


The Heart of All Worlds: Split Ends

by Is Og Ild (IsOgIld)



Series: The Heart of All Worlds [2]
Category: Disney - All Media Types, Frozen - Fandom, Kingdom Hearts, tangled - Fandom
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crack Relationships, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, F/M, Rare Pairings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-09
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-09-23 00:35:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 52,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9631901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IsOgIld/pseuds/Is%20Og%20Ild
Summary: Elsa, Sora and Axel find themselves in the strange new bustling city of Corona! But with both the Heartless and Organization XIII hot on their trail, how can they hope to find the Keyhole before it's too late? Perhaps with a little help from a girl with magical hair that's a mile long and an infamous master thief. [Book 2! KH AU meets Modern Tangled. Updated weekly!]





	1. Chapter 1

_**Author's Note:**  Welcome one and all to Book 2 of **The Heart of All Worlds**! That's right, BOOK 2! Meaning if you're new to my stories and haven't read Book 1 yet, you should probably go do that first! To those of you who HAVE read Book 1, welcome back, thank you for returning, and hope you enjoy this new story! _

_**Quick Disclaimer:** Just stating this here and now for the entire story - I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything from Disney._

* * *

_**THE HEART OF ALL WORLDS: SPLIT ENDS** _

_**~*~** _

_Look at the world - so close, and I'm halfway to it!_  
_Look at it all - so big, do I even dare?_  
_Look at me - there at last, I just have to do it._  
_Should I? No._  
_Here I go..._  
  
_~*~_

The warm light of dawn streamed through a regal set of floor-to-ceiling windows. The sunshine seemed to dance as it fell upon several books lying on the floor. A few were stacked in piles - some neat, some disorderly - while others lay open, displaying pages where text had been circled or crossed out, and extensive notes had been written in the margins. These books scattered along the giant colorful, quilted rug were just an insignificant fraction of the trove decorating the northern wall of the room.

Volumes of varying sizes and of every hue imaginable filled the shelves that started at the ground and, not wasting an inch, reached all the way up to the high-vaulted ceiling, requiring a rolling ladder to be able reach every book. The sheer amount of tomes would put some public libraries to shame. The subjects available were vast, ranging from quantum physics to art, romantic fiction to horror, how-tos on dancing to fencing to computer programming, and many, many more. Not a speck of dust clung to any of the books and all looked worn and well-used.

These books did not comprise the only collection in the room, though it was by far the largest. On a wall that adjoined the bookshelves in one corner of the room, several more shelves surrounded an 84-inch flat screen TV mounted into the wall. The left half of the shelves were filled with DVDs and box sets, boasting titles such as _Avengers_ , _Kiss Kiss Bang Bang_ , _Breaking Bad_ , _Friends_ , _Sherlock,_ and _Vicious Beauties: The Secret World of the Jellyfish_ , just to name a few. The right half held an immense accumulation of video games, with the bottom shelves reserved for the game consoles themselves, which included an Atari, PS4, and what seemed to be every other game system that had been invented in between. Resting on the cushions of the sumptuous, green couch sitting before the entertainment center were a Nintendo DS and a PSP, along with several more misplaced books.

Taking up the space next to it was an impressive stereo system with all sorts of blinking lights and digital displays. It was hooked up to a pair of speakers taller than your average sized human, as well as accompanied by yet another huge set of shelves brimming with music CDs from all different genres. An electric guitar that was a misty purple color detailed with gold, elegant swirls laid nearby, plugged into one of the speakers.

Moving on to another corner of the room, there was a goodly sized kitchen with several well-stocked cupboards and state-of-the-art appliances. A tower of cookbooks was stacked up on the counter here, with the top one open to a certain recipe. The delicious scent of something being baked was wafting from the oven. Several dishes and bowls that needed cleaning cluttered the kitchen surfaces, while the dishwasher ran with a soft hum. A gorgeous dining room set made of dark mahogany was placed nearby.

Several other recreational items were littered throughout the rest of the room. Here, there was a painting area, complete with an easel, a canvas with a half-finished art piece on it, brushes, and more paints than one person could ever use in one lifetime. Papers and sketchpads filled with doodles were strewn across the floor. Not too far off from there was a grand desk that housed a top-of-the-line computer with three monitors hooked up to it. In another spot was what appeared to be some sort of crafts section as it was home to a sewing machine, knitting needles, and power tools that seemed to be for woodworking projects. To the left of that, several board games, card games, and puzzles were stockpiled around a broad table, along with more books, these ones with _Dungeons & Dragons_ emblazoned across their covers.

In one corner of the room where the southern wall met the windowed wall was a plush, luxurious canopy bed with deep blue drapes that had silver trimming. Upon the layered sheets and comforters were a multitude of pillows and stuffed animals. Accompanying the bed was matching vanity, wardrobe, and dresser set that were handsomely built and had been hand carved with care.

The room itself was enormous - it would have to be to accommodate all the stuff in it and still somehow manage to look as open and spacious as it did. It had to take up most of the floor of the building it was in and could have comfortably fit a herd of elephants inside it. The walls were thoroughly decorated with posters (one of _Doctor Who_ and another of _Merlin,_ for starters), sports memorabilia (the _Corona Chameleons_ seemed to be a favored team), and art (prominent among them being _Starry Night_ ). Where there wasn't something hanging on the walls, they were painted - endless, vibrant murals of plants, animals, people, sunshine, stars, and more. Hanging from the ceilings - which had not escaped the mural work - were hundreds of faery lights for brightening up the space at night.

The room had three doors. One led to an opulent bathroom that was bigger than some apartments. One was the exit and had several security measures in place, with an intercom attached to the wall directly beside it. The last one was a set of glass doors built into the windowed wall and led out onto a balcony.

The balcony was airy and about half the size of the room it was attached to. It had a thriving and lovingly cared for garden that some might consider a small forest. It seemed to consist of everything - trees, vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers, some of which looked quite exotic and rare. At the edge of the terrace was a colossal bronze telescope, adorned with fancy gears, knobs, and buttons. The ground surrounding it was buried under star charts and books on astronomy.

A low stone wall bordered the balcony, with a carved bench affixed to it. It was on that bench that the inhabitant of the lavish condominium now sat. The young woman had her legs tucked beneath her, her feet bare. She wore a lavender night gown embroidered with delicate pink and purple curls and loops. Her face was lightly freckled and a spattering of syrup from whatever she had been baking was smudged across her cheek as well as on the tip of her nose.

Her slightly rumpled golden hair was long. Very long. _Extremely_ long. So long that it pooled like flaxen silk on the ground beneath her, then forged a path through the garden, over the threshold and back into the condo where it was practically everywhere, tracing what could have only been her journey through the room earlier that morning.

Her bright, apple green eyes were fraught with concern as she looked down into her hands. Cradled in her gentle palms was a little brown, speckled bird with a white belly. One of its wings was bent at an odd angle, clearly injured. It was emitting weak peeps of distress, most likely due to being in pain, as well as the fear of being handled by a human.

Carefully maneuvering the hurt bird to one palm, she used her free hand to take hold of a handful of her hair. She then slowly and with great care began to lightly wrap the long lock around the bird's small body. The creature's cries grew more frantic, but it did not try to escape. After looping the gilded strands around it a couple times, the girl stopped, cupping both her hands around her charge once again.

Then she began to hum. Her voice was soft and silvery, the tune unrecognizable but absolutely beautiful to hear.

The teenager was about to demonstrate that length was not the only absurd thing about her hair.

With the first note produced from her throat, her hair began to glow. It started at her scalp then flowed down each strand, like billions of tiny streams of pure sunlight. The radiance cascaded through the hair that cocooned the bird and kept going through the rest of her long mane. She continued to hum for a minute more, the glow never wavering. It was not until she sang the last note that her hair began to dim and return to its normal color.

She tentatively removed her hair from the bird and studied it. Its wing, now folded more naturally against its body, appeared to be repaired. The distraught noises that it had been making previously were now replaced with soft, almost confused chirps. It hopped up onto its feet, experimentally stretched its wings, then cocked its head up at the girl.

She giggled, "Go on, little guy. You're all better now!" She lifted her hands up above her head to provide some momentum and the bird took off flying into the clear, blue morning.

She watched it go, contentment in her eyes... but also just a hint of envy. She sighed, turning and resting her head on the ledge of the terrace wall, casting her gaze below. She resided at the top of a rather tall building - almost the tallest building in the city, as a matter of fact. She had no idea how many floors were in the building that her home was perched atop of, but it was enough to make the people on the streets below look like fleas. Indecipherable specks though they were, the girl often loved to people watch from her vantage point. However, they were not the reason she peered below today.

Roads were being blocked off so cars could not drive through. Tents were being pitched and stages were being erected. Decorations were being put up while supplies and equipment were being moved into position and set up. All preparations for the upcoming yearly celebration that would commence in a few short days from now.

The Starlight Festival.

How she longed to go, she had been dreaming of it her whole life. But she had never been allowed to. That was all about to change however. There was no way she could be denied this time. Soon she would be there, she just knew it.

_Soon._

Reluctantly dragging her eyes away from the outside world, she rose to her feet and with a determined look in her eyes, she jogged back inside, leaving the glass door open behind her.

For a moment, all was still on the balcony. Then an odd, pale white, spindly creature appeared, floating and coiling through the air, like a scarf caught in the wind. It swiftly and silently slipped through the door behind her, unnoticed.

* * *

_**Author's note:** That's right! This book we're going to be diving into a modern spin on Tangled! Sorry no action this first chapter, it was meant to be more of a prologue, a bit of a teaser to give you a peak into the new "world" our heroes are off to next (if the summary and the tags didn't give clue you in already xD).  BUT there was that bit of intrigue at the end... just what could that strange little creature be that followed our dear Punzie inside, hmmmm? Maybe you can guess, maybe not... :3 Either way, you'll find out soon enough!  AND THE REAL STORY IS GONNA BEGIN NEXT CHAPTER!_

_Alright, some good news: I have several chapters pre-written, yay! So I'll be updating weekly, double yay! Some bad news: those chapters are gonna run out before I am able to finish writing this book :( I just wanted to warn y'all now so you can revel in the weekly updates while they last._

_And I think it's worth reiterating my note in Book 1: please keep in mind that this is an AU, which goes for KH, Frozen, and Tangled, and thus while some things will be the same, other things will be very, very different. You'll know what I'm talking about when it comes up... several chapters from now :P_

_Special thanks and much love to everyone who have shown support for my quirky little series! Thank you all for reading, hoped you liked it, please leave feedback and let me know what you think! Hope to see you all back for the next chapter in a week :D_


	2. Chapter 2

"Thank you!" Elsa called over her shoulder as she left the train station's souvenir shop.

She hummed happily to herself as she eyed her purchase. In her hands she held a brand new pair of leather gloves. She was not about to go gallivanting off on some adventure with her bare hands, that was just asking for trouble. Her addiction sated for the time being, she looked up. Sora was still at the station's ticket booth, in the middle of buying them passage onto the train. As for her other traveling companion-

"Whatcha got there?" a voice came from behind her.

Her gloves were suddenly snatched from her hands, flying up and over her head. She spun around to find Axel holding her gloves up to his narrowed eyes as he inspected them.

"Hey, give those back," she demanded, moving to retrieve them.

He raised them up and out of her grasp, which was not hard to do given how much he towered over her. "No. These have been confiscated."

Putting her hands on her hips, she said, "It's not confiscating, it's stealing."

"Call it what you want, you're not getting them back," he said as dangled them in front her. Her fingers darted for them, but he was faster, once again raising them above his head. She tried to leap for them, but his long arms easily kept them well out of her reach.

"You're too freakishly tall," she grumbled.

"Or maybe you're just the right amount of conveniently short," he countered, patting her on the head as she crossed her arms and huffed. "I thought you didn't need to wear these anymore. Didn't you have some great epiphany just an hour or so ago? Love conquers all, including your powers, or whatever?"

"It's not like I mastered my powers just like that," she snapped her fingers. "Yes, I understand my powers a little better now, but I'm still an emotional basket case. I can't just turn that on and off whenever I like. I'm going to need time, and in the meantime, those will make sure I don't accidentally turn any innocent bystanders into ice cubes. So hand them over."

Axel shook his head and opened his mouth to respond when Elsa abruptly lunged for the gloves. Not even remotely caught off guard, he stumbled back with a smirk and threw his free hand up, catching her forehead in his palm and holding her at bay. She froze, arms stretched out in front of her, as the absurdity of the situation hit her. Letting her arms fall to her side, Elsa stepped back and stared at him, her face clearly unamused.

"You just have to learn to trust yourself," he told her. "You'll never be able to do that if you keep these around as your security blanket. You don't need them."

"But I do, I… you wouldn't understand," she argued, looking down.

"Try me."

She chewed her lower lip for a minute before her eyes shifted back up to him once more. "Can I just have them back? ...please?"

"Hmmm. Well… you did use the magic word," he said as he turned his head to the side. He scratched his cheek in thought for a few seconds, then his face lit up. Holding the gloves behind his back, he bent forward so he was face to face with her. Noses nearly touching, he tilted his head to the side and peered at her through half-lidded eyes, his shocking green irises gleaming mischievously. "How badly do you want them?" he practically purred.

"I- uh…" she stammered. Feeling her face heat up, she quickly turned away and snapped, "Forget it. Keep the damn gloves, see if I care."

She did her best to storm off, but the effect was somewhat ruined by Axel's peals of laughter.

* * *

One would think Elsa would have passed out the minute she had the chance to, given that she had not slept in over twenty-four hours. That's what she had expected when taking her seat on the train. That's what had happened to Axel, who sat next to her on her left, as well as to Sora, who was currently snoring in the seat across from her. But four hours into the train ride now, and she was still painfully wide awake, watching the landscape blur by outside her window in the noonday sunlight.

As she had rested her head back and shut her eyes, thoughts of Hans had entered her mind uninvited. How had he vanished from the gym? Where was he now? Would they see him again? What were his plans? It surprised her a little that thinking of him did not hurt all that much. Yes, the thoughts were unwelcome and brought a dull ache to her chest, but it was not as devastating as she would have imagined. Maybe she hadn't been in love with him after all. Perhaps… she had just been very lonely and had craved his attention and had merely confused it for love. Now that she acknowledged that possibility, she had to wonder what would happen... if she would be able to fight or if she would freeze up again when she inevitably faced him once more, out there in the big world that she was now heading out into...

That's when it had all suddenly sunk in. Here she was, running away from home with two guys she had just met to go chasing after shadow monsters and magic keyholes. Her parents must be flipping out right about now. Sure, she was eighteen, but she doubted that fact would do anything to ease their worries or fears. What must they be thinking? One minute, she was their well behaved daughter who got good grades, never hung out with the wrong crowd - or with anyone for that matter - never caused any trouble, just stayed in her room all the time, studying and generally keeping to herself… the next, she was some monstrosity with ice powers who had cursed their city with a snowstorm in Summer and then skipped town the second she got the chance. Her parent's perfect girl was gone.

She could only imagine what her sister must be going through to keep them calm. Would Anna even be able to calm them down? Or, even now as she fretted over it, were they calling the police to track her down? Or the government, the FBI, whoever you called to hunt down your mutant daughter able to call up a blizzard with a wave of the hand?

First thing Elsa realized was that in her anxiety, she had forgotten to breathe. As she inhaled slowly, the second thing she realized was that beneath her palms, the armrests she had been using were now coated in a thick layer of frost. Her hands jerked away. Her eyes shifted from the coating of ice to her surroundings. The train car was big and for the most part empty - no one had seen her mishap, at least not yet. Taking another deep breath, she lightly placed her fingers to the cool surface, closed her eyes and concentrated. She focused on trying to remember the warm feelings and memories of her family, especially of her sister. It was difficult in her frazzled and tired state of mind, and she was almost certain it had not worked. But when she cracked open one eye a moment later, the ice was gone.

She reclined back into her chair, breathing a sigh of relief. Then she scowled out of the corner of her eyes at Axel's sleeping form beside her.

She _needed_ those gloves. So what if they were a security blanket? Who was he to tell her what she could and could not do? She frowned as his cackling from earlier still rung in her ears. Why had he even been laughing? He was a Nobody, he didn't have emotions, so he was not supposed to find things funny. So what had been the deal with that?

Looking down, she spotted her leather gloves peeping out from the pocket of his hoodie. For a few seconds she just stared at them, body completely still. Then she began to cautiously reach a hand out. About an inch away from them, she heard Axel make a noise and she froze. She slowly dragged her eyes up to his face only to find him still fast asleep. She hesitated for a few more heartbeats, then grabbed the gloves and quickly pulled back. Thankfully, he still did not wake.

Triumphant, Elsa broke the gloves out of their packaging as quickly as she could without making too much noise and slipped them on. They were slightly too big and the leather chafed a bit, but she did not care. They were wonderful.

She smiled as she rubbed her hands contentedly together. Then she practically jumped out of her skin as something fell on her shoulder. Stifling a squeal, she grit her teeth and haltingly turned her head. She blinked as she found that Axel had shifted in his sleep and was now resting his head on her shoulder.

Well, this was an odd development.

Careful not to disturb him, she slowly turned her head back towards the window, his crimson hair tickling her neck and cheek as she did so. She then rested her head back and began to relax. Maybe it was the comforting feel of the gloves hugging her fingers. Maybe it was the soothing, steady sound of Axel's breathing so close to her ear. Whatever it was, her eyelids began to feel heavier and it was not long before Elsa finally found sleep as well.

It seemed like she had just started to dream when she felt a hand on her wrist nudging her.

"...sa? Elsa, wake up."

"Nreh?" she so eloquently articulated, sluggishly opening her eyes.

The blurred shapes and colors soon came into focus and she saw Sora smiling at her. He leaned back into his chair as he said, "We're here. Come on, Axel's waiting for us outside."

"Here? Where's here?" she mumbled, but Sora had already risen from his seat and was walking towards the exit. She realized the train had stopped moving. With a yawn, she stood up as well and stumbled after him. As she stepped off the train, she winced at the bright sunlight.

"Well well. Sleeping Beauty finally decided to wake up."

She turned towards the voice, seeing Axel stretching his arms over his head. "I couldn't have been asleep that long," she said, covering her mouth as she yawned again. "It's still light out. I was probably only out for an hour or two."

"Try twenty," he chirped.

Elsa raised both eyebrows. "You're joking, right?"

"Nope," Sora said from the other side of her. "We woke up around dinner time last night, but you were still out cold. You looked so beat, we did not want to wake you."

"Ol' Sora here started getting worried when you were still hibernating this morning. Thought you were in a coma or something."

"Did not," he muttered with a hint of a whine.

Shaking her head, Elsa boggled at the fact that she had been asleep for nearly a day. _I guess bringing the North Pole to Arendelle and then sending it packing really took it out of me_ , she mused. It certainly had not felt like that long. But now that she had shaken most of her grogginess, she had to admit she did feel much more rested.

"So where are we?" she asked as she took in the unfamiliar station for the first time. It bustled with activity as people dashed about, surging on and off trains that noisily arrived and departed.

"Some city called Corona, according to a sign I saw," Sora said.

"And this is where we'll find another Keyhole?"

He nodded, tapping a finger to the device in his ear. "That's what the Cricket says, yup."

"Alright then. What first, Keyblade Master?" Elsa asked, eager to get the adventure truly started.

"Oh, that's easy: breakfast!" Sora flashed the two of them a goofy grin. Elsa gave him a blank look. Of all the answers she had expected, it was not that. He continued, "I see a city map over there. I'll go find out what's nearby."

And before she could do or say anything, he ran off. She reached a hand out after him, but he was long gone. Frowning, she looked from his retreating form to her outstretched hand. With a start, she remembered she was still wearing the gloves she had stolen back from Axel. She hastily shoved her hands into her pockets, casting a sidelong glance at the redhead. His eyes had also followed Sora and luckily he had not seemed to notice.

"Don't we have more, uh… pressing matters than food?" Elsa said.

Axel turned to look at her. "Hey, heroes gotta eat too, ya know. Besides, you must be hungry. When's the last time you had a meal?"

She opened her mouth to protest, but her stomach spoke up first, gurgling quite loudly. She winced and hung her head. "Maybe you're right."

"Aren't I always?" he smirked. She did not respond right away, and he noticed she was just looking at him with her head tilted to one side. "What?"

Shaking her head, she said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to stare. It's just something I've been wondering… why do you smile? Or laugh, or frown, or express any sort of emotion? I know it was all part of the act before when we didn't know you were a Nobody, but now that we do… why do you still do stuff like that?"

He seemed taken aback by the question. Rubbing the back of his neck with one hand, he said, "Well... for one thing, it would probably creep the hell out of you if I didn't react at all to anything and just gave you a slack jawed, dead eyed, zombie look. But also… when we become Nobodies, we may not be able to feel things anymore, but we still remember what it was like.

"When you join Organization XIII, they want you to be able to blend in with everyone else and not draw attention to yourself. So they train us to put our memories to use. If someone tells a joke, we're unable to find it funny, but we know it's supposed to be, so we laugh. Same with sadness or anger, you get the picture. It's not long before us Nobodies don't even have to think about it anymore… I've found myself smiling at something, but I didn't consciously think about making myself smile, and I sure as hell wasn't happy. It just becomes a reflex after a while. Automatic."

She nodded slowly as she took in his words. "So, it's like the Organization… programs you to act a certain way? Like robots?"

"Hm, sorta… yeah, I guess that's one way of putting it."

Knitting her brow, Elsa said, "That actually sounds kind of sad."

"Does it?" He shrugged. "I hadn't noticed. Guess being an unfeeling zombie has its perks."

"...that's not how you really see yourself, is it? As a zombie?"

"Hey, if the shoe fits. Plus it would explain my powerful cravings for grey matter."

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "Is that so?"

"Brains…" he dragged the word out in a moan.

Elsa laughed. "Well, for what it's worth, I don't see you that way. You're more than just some reanimated corpse. You have thoughts and opinions and… well, you just do what you want, and I admire that. You're more than a mere shell. You're a person."

"Aw, shucks. If I had a heart, you'd be making me blush."

Hiding a smile behind her hand, Elsa shook her head. "Come on, be serious."

"Or maybe you," he said, lightly flicking her nose, "should learn to be less serious."

"So there's a hamburger place right down the block from here, that sound good?" Sora asked as he jogged back over to them.

"Burgers? For breakfast?" Elsa crinkled her nose.

Axel grinned at her. "Ya know, I hardly know a thing about him, but I'm actually not the least bit surprised Sora suggested that."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" he demanded with a glare.

"Nothing," he replied innocently as he shrugged and began to head towards the train station's exit.

Narrowing his eyes, Sora sighed. "Well, it wasn't our only option. Let's see, what else was there…"

Sora began to name some alternatives as he followed Axel. Elsa started to walk after them as well, but came to a halt when she felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle. She spun around, but was only met with the sight of a still crowded train depot. She quirked an eyebrow as her eyes scanned the vicinity, but saw nothing that was cause for alarm. Frowning, she slowly turned back around and moved to catch up with the others.

* * *

A teenager peeked around the corner and watched as the girl with the platinum blond braid hurried to rejoin her friends. "That was close. I don't think she saw me, though," he murmured.

"This is stupid. Why'd we even get on the train and follow her here? What's the point?" his companion asked with a scowl, kicking a pebble. The two boys were mirror images of one another.

"What's the point?" the first repeated the question, shooting him an annoyed look. "The _point_ is that our brother went missing last night and it's obviously her fault."

"So? What good is following her gonna do?"

"You saw how he reacted when we told him we yelled at her and chased her off. Idiot's probably still in love with her. I bet they're running away together or some other bullshit. So if we keep shadowing her, we'll find him."

"Come on, Hans isn't that dumb," the other grumbled. "Maybe he did run away, but only to get away from that ice freak."

The first teenager sneered. "Then maybe she's lovesick and trying to track him down. Either way, she'll lead us right to him."

Rolling his eyes, he said, "Really? So then, what's up with those other two guys she's with?"

"I don't know… muscle? Doesn't matter. Quick, let's go before we lose them."

His face pinched. "This is so stupid," he muttered again, before slipping into the crowd with his brother.

* * *

_**Author's Note:** And so it begins! Dun dun dun, Hans' older twin brothers are back! Mayhaps you remember them from Prom night? What mischief are they going to cause, hmmmmm?_

_And there will definitely be more Rapunzel coming up (next chapter, in fact!). She and the rest of the Tangled crew are just going to be in basically every other chapter (ish) for a while until I can bring everyone together AND THAT'S WHEN THE REAL FUN CAN TRULY BEGIN!_

_Special thanks and much love to everyone who have shown support for my quirky little series! Thank you all for reading, hoped you liked it, please leave feedback and let me know what you think! Hope to see you all back for the next chapter in a week :D_


	3. Chapter 3

The young woman with ridiculously long blond hair let out a tiny squeak. She was curled up on her couch, hugging one of its cushy green pillows tightly to her chest. She absentmindedly chewed on a few strands of her hair while the rest of it crept over the back of the sofa and winded haphazardly around the room. Her wide eyes devoured the scene playing out on her TV screen. Apparently, she was very invested. Suddenly, something that was half a wail, half a frustrated whimper escaped her. "Come on, Dean! Why don't you just grab him and kiss him already?!" she shouted at the TV.

Her eyes momentarily flickered to her Smaug clock hanging on the wall, then she did a double take. What was supposed to have been only a five minute break from cleaning had somehow turned into binge-watching the show for three hours. Clicking the TV off, she vaulted herself over the back of the couch and hastily set about finishing tidying up. In reality, there was not that much more to do, but she wanted everything to be spotless and perfect. Anything to tip the scale in her favor.

She ran around the room, dusting and sweeping and putting everything in its place, all the while skillfully managing not to trip over her own hair. Thirty minutes later found her meticulously arranging the baklava that she had lovingly baked herself onto a large platter in what she hoped was a pleasing pattern. The final piece was not cooperating with the rest of the presentation however as she kept fiddling with it. She turned it a centimeter to the right and scrutinized it, muttering to herself. "...no… still off…" Pivoting it half a centimeter back to the left, she looked up at the clock again and her face brightened.

His shift had started!

Abandoning her task, she dashed over the intercom next to the front door. Pressing a button on it, she chirped into it, "This is it! This is a very big day, Pascal!"

The intercom crackled. "And why do you say that, Miss Rapunzel?" a deep voice deadpanned through the speaker.

Pascal was the security guard that stood watch outside her door. Or rather, one of many, as surely it would be impossible for just one person to stand guard 24-7 year round. That person would have to sleep at some point! But Pascal was her favorite security guard. He was the only one who would talk to her. She had never seen him face-to-face, but had held many conversations with him via the intercom. She had the security rotation memorized by heart and so always knew exactly when he was on the clock so she would never miss a chance to converse.

She giddily bounced back and forth from the ball of one foot to the other. "Because today is the first time Mother will say yes!"

"Well, 'yes' is a difficult word to say. I'd be proud of her too," he responded in the same flat tone.

She giggled. "No, silly. I mean she's finally going to agree to let me go outside."

"Oh really?"

"Yes!" She nodded her head rapidly several times, forgetting that he could not see her.

"And what makes you think that?"

"Because," she said lifting her chin, "I have an ace up my sleeve."

"And that would be, Miss Card Shark?"

She shook her head. "Can't tell you. It's my secret weapon."

The intercom was silent for a couple seconds. "It's that tomorrow is your eighteenth birthday, isn't it?"

"No, that's n-" she cut herself off, cocking an eyebrow. "Actually, yes. How did you-?"

"It's my job to know these things about you, Miss Rapunzel."

"Oh." She shrugged, then a wide, hopeful grin returned to her face. "You think it'll work?"

"We're about to find out. You're mother is on her way up. Good luck."

Hardly able to contain her excitement, she trilled, "Thank you, Pascal!" She patted the intercom fondly before sprinting off into the bathroom. There she spent ten seconds doing her best to smooth out her hair (the first four feet of it anyway) and make herself look presentable. She then charged back out, grabbed the tray of baklava and carried it over to wait in front of the door, holding her posture high. Puffing both from all the running around and from anticipation, she waited.

For a moment, everything was still and quiet. Then the beeping, clicking, and scraping of various locks being unlocked could be heard from the other side of the door. Finally, the door burst open as a woman entered. She was tall and slightly tan, with thick, curly black hair that fell down her back. She wore a crimson dress that was both flattering and expensive-looking, with a pair of pumps to match.

"Darling, I'm h-" her sing-song was cut off as she jumped in surprise upon seeing Rapunzel. She sighed, "You nearly gave me a heart attack. Must you wait at the door like that? You're not a dog." She then grinned and pinched both of Rapunzel's cheeks and cooed, "Though if you were, you'd be the cutest wittle chubby-faced puppy ever!"

"Um... thanks?" Rapunzel replied hesitantly, pulling her face out of her mother's grasp. She then recalled what she held and with renewed purpose, said more confidently, "Welcome home, Mom! Look what I made you! Your favorite!"

Her mother gave a pleased hum as she daintily picked up a piece of baklava. She brought it to her mouth to take a bite, but then abruptly froze. Her eyes narrowed at Rapunzel. "You want something."

"Want?" she smiled innocently. Choosing her next words carefully, she said, "But you take such great care of me, why would I ever _want_ anything?"

She still looked dubious, eyes boring into Rapunzel as she took a slow, suspicious bite of the pastry. She chewed for a few seconds before stating bluntly, "You used too much sugar." Despite her words, she took two more pieces from the platter before turning and walking towards the dining table.

Not deterred in the slightest, Rapunzel hurriedly set the tray back on the kitchen counter before racing over to pull out a chair for her mother. She then scooted another chair over to be closer to her companion before taking a seat herself, eyes shining eagerly. "How was your trip?"

"Utterly exhausting and a complete disappointment," she sighed, before giving her a pointed look. "Kind of like you." There was a pause, then the older woman roared with laughter. "Oh sweetie, you know I'm only teasing! You're just absolutely precious."

She chuckled weakly. Mother's humor was definitely an acquired taste that took some getting used to. "I'm sorry your trip didn't go well. One of these days, you'll have to tell me what you actually do on those things."

"Oh, it's all business, positively dull. Nothing that would interest you," she said as she finished one pastry and moved on to nibbling the next.

_There!_ Just the opening she needed. "Speaking of interesting, do you remember what tomorrow is?"

Her mother gave a thoughtful hum before snapping her fingers. "It's Flag Day."

Grin widening, she shook her head. "No, it's my eighteenth birthday!"

She seemed to consider the statement for a moment. "No," she mused, drawing the word out,"...no, that's not it. I'm certain it's Flag Day."

"I _think_ I would know when my own birthday is, Mother," she asserted through grit teeth, fighting to maintain her grin.

"Oh, sweetheart," she guffawed, poking her daughter in the nose. "I was just teasing you again. Stop taking everything so seriously! If only you could see your face right now."

"Heh… anyway! Since eighteen is kind of a big one, I was kind of hoping we could do something special."

She tapped a finger to her chin. "You mean like letting you stay up past midnight?"

"I was actually thinking something a little more special than that," Rapunzel muttered.

The older woman perked up as she said, "Ah, matching mother-and-daughter tattoos!"

"...okay, something a little less special…"

"Eating ice cream and cookies for breakfast?"

"That's not-"

"Makeovers and getting our nails done? Or how about-"

"I want to go to the Starlight Festival!" she blurted out, then gasped and covered her mouth with both her hands. That outburst... had not been part of the plan. She had meant to be more tactful.

But there was no going back now.

Placing the half-eaten last piece of baklava on the table, her mother was silent as she massaged her fingers into her temples. "Oh," she said finally. "This again."

"Now, just hear me out," Rapunzel attempted to salvage the situation. "One, it'd only be for a day," she ticked off on her index finger, then moved onto the next finger, "Two, you'd be with me, so what could go wrong? Three, it's a way less expensive birthday gift than, say, a pony. Four, it's something I've wanted for, like, ever. Five, if you let me go, you'd be bestest, most amazing mother in the whole wide universe. Six-"

"Rapunzel," she cut her off, her voice low, but stern. "No."

She looked crestfallen. "...no?"

"No," she repeated, before adding, "But maybe next year, when you're older."

"But that's what you said _last_ year! And every year before that!" she huffed. "Mother, I'm going to be eighteen tomorrow - an adult! And yet, I've never, not once in my life, stepped foot outside that door," she pointed at the secured entrance into the condo. "I'm old enough to drive, to vote, to buy cigarettes - not that you'd let me do any of that stuff even if I wanted to. How much older do I need to be? What, are you waiting for me to be able to collect social security?"

"Sweetie, how many times must we go through this? It's not safe for you out there. There are ruffians and thugs everywhere that would just be waiting to take advantage of you. And then there's your hair… let's overlook for the moment that it would drag for, at the very least, ten blocks behind you, entangling every rock, twig, vermin, and small child in your wake. But what if someone were to find out your secret?"

"What secret? You mean the secret where my hair lights up and gains magical healing properties when I sing? Here's a kooky idea, I could just, you know, _not sing_. There, problem solved."

Narrowing her eyes, her mother said, "It's not as simple as that. We don't know for certain that that's the only thing that can cause it. What if something else out there in the world triggers it? What then, hm?"

"Then we'll figure it out! Just for one day, I want to go to the Festival, to be outside, to have some human contact!"

"You have _plenty_ of human contact," she insisted, patting her on the cheek.

Her eyelids drooped. "I mean besides you."

She rocked back in her seat a bit, splaying a hand out over her own chest, bottom lip quivering. "Are you saying I'm not enough?"

"Please, Mother," Rapunzel pleaded softly, reaching for her other hand. "I can't stay cooped up here forever. It's not normal. It's not healthy. Give me one day, just one. Let me go to the Starlight Festival. The way it's held every year on my birthday… somehow, I feel like it's meant for me. That I'm meant to be there. I _need_ to be there. Please."

She seemed to consider her words and for one brief second, Rapunzel thought she had gotten through to her. But then her face hardened as she stood abruptly. "I said no."

"But-"

"End of discussion," she said firmly, holding up a hand to silence her as she walked away. "Now I must run out to take care of a couple errands, but I'll return shortly."

When she didn't hear a response, she turned to see Rapunzel's downcast face. She sighed, "I know you're disappointed, but trust me, pet. Mother knows best. Now come here." She held open her arms, and Rapunzel trudged into her embrace. "I love you very much."

"I love you more," she mumbled.

"I love you most." She kissed her daughter on the forehead before releasing her and leaving, closing the front door behind her.

Shoulders slumping, Rapunzel turned and leaned her back against the security door, colliding into it with a loud _thump!_ Slowly she slid down into a sitting position on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest.

The intercom buzzed a few seconds later. "Didn't go so hot, I take it?" came Pascal's voice.

"...yeah…"

* * *

"Ah," Sora sighed contentedly as he exited the café, patting his belly. "Those flapjacks really hit the spot."

Axel came out right behind him. As he held the door for Elsa, he snorted, "I'd hope so. You ate like fifty of them."

"Don't exaggerate," Elsa smirked. "It was more like thirty... forty, tops."

The trio picked a direction and began meandering down the busy sidewalk. Scratching his cheek, Sora mumbled, "It wasn't that many."

"It was enough to make me wonder where you pack it all away. I-" Axel stopped mid-sentence as he turned his head and realized Sora was no longer walking beside them. The boy had come to a halt a few feet back, his eyes wide as they darted around, searching for something. Exchanging a glance with Elsa, Axel called, "Yo, what's up?"

"I thought I saw-" His mouth snapped shut and he shook his head. "It's nothing." He took a step towards them, then hesitated as he glanced back over his shoulder. Then he snapped his fingers. "...you know what? Let's split up."

She tipped her head to one side. "Split up?"

"Yeah, to look for the Keyhole! I mean, this city is huge. We probably won't even cover a quarter of it if we stick together. But if we split up, we'll be able to check twice as many places in the same amount of time. Doesn't that sound like a good idea?"

"Well, I guess, maybe... but-"

"Great!" Sora exclaimed with a smile. "Alright, fan out and find that Keyhole! If one of us finds it, text the others. Otherwise, meet back in this spot at sunset. Got it?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Good! See ya!" And with that, he broke out into a run, quickly disappearing into the sea of bustling people.

The other two just stared after him, blinking a couple times. Finally, Elsa said, "Okay... was it weird that Sora just took off like that?"

Axel clasped his hands behind his head as he turned and started walking in the opposite direction of where Sora had gone. "I don't know… maybe?"

She took a quick second to note the building they were standing in front of so she'd remember where to meet later. It was currently closed and seemed to be a nightclub of some sort. Then she caught up with Axel and fell in step beside him. "Do you think we should be worried about him?"

"Worried that he'll get hurt? Nah, he's a big boy, he can take care of himself. Worried about his mental health? Now, that's another story. After all, he's a kid that swings a gigantic key around while chasing after things that go bump in the night." He tapped a finger to his ear with a grin. "Plus, he hears voices in his head, which is never a good sign."

Snorting, she asked, "Oh yeah? Well, if he's nuts and we're following his lead, what's that say about us?"

"Oh, we're way more cracked than he is. Our straight jackets are being prepared as we speak."

She laughed. "Right. Anyway, about the Keyhole…"

"What about it?"

"How are we supposed to track it down?"

He shrugged. "What're you looking at me for? Your guess is as good as mine."

Eyebrows shooting up, she said, "But you've been at this so much longer, what with being in the Organization and all."

"Guess how many Waypoint Keyholes I saw before Prom Night."

"Uh…"

"Nada. Zilch. Zip. Nil."

"You mean the one at Arendelle High was your first one too?" she asked.

"Bingo!" he nodded. "Maybe Organization XIII knows all about Keyholes, but if they do, they keep it on a need to know basis. And I didn't need to know."

Elsa's eyes fell to watch the sidewalk as they continued along. "So we're both completely clueless about this. Where do we even start?"

His shoulders bobbed in another shrug as he said, "We could just explore. See what happens."

She chewed her lower lip. "But what if it only shows up if the Keyblade is around?"

"Then we just have fun aimlessly wandering around an exotic, new city. I could think of worst ways to spend a day." He slung an arm around her shoulders and threw her a wink. "It'll be like we're on a date."

Her eyes widened and she stumbled. She cleared her throat as she gingerly removed his arm and did her best to mask her awkwardness behind a wry smirk. "My, how forward. Pardon me if I don't exactly go all weak in the knees."

"Ooh, feisty. Come on, I'll treat ya real nice. Open doors for you, pull out your chair, the works."

"Wow, how gentlemanly," she laughed.

"Yup. I'm a real class act."

Shaking her head, Elsa said, "Alright, Romeo, back to the matter at hand. We have a lot of work to do if we want to scour through all of this." She spread her arms wide in both directions, gesturing to the entire city.

"Well, look what we have here," she heard Axel say, then felt his fingers wrap around her wrist and tug her hand closer to his face. Quirking an eyebrow, she looked at him and mentally cursed when she realized what had caught his interest: her gloves. She had forgotten she was wearing them. As she snatched her hand back from his grasp, he said, "Someone's been naughty. I didn't see that coming, you seemed like such a goody-goody."

She lifted her chin slightly. "Is it a crime now to take back something that was stolen from me in the first place?"

"No, but we both know you shouldn't have those."

"I know no such thing."

His arm suddenly shot out in front of her and came to rest against the building on her other side, barring her path. She stopped in her tracks and turned to face him as he put his other hand out towards her, palm up. "Hand them over."

"They wouldn't look good on you," she retorted somewhat petulantly.

"Cute," he smirked. His hand was still outstretched expectantly. She looked at it, then back up at his face as she crossed her arms. "Elsa," he warned in a low voice as he loomed over her.

His arm may have been blocking her way forward, but the way back was wide open. She abruptly slipped out from under his scrutiny and began walking back in the direction they had come from. "Ya know, Axel," she began, spinning around to stroll backwards while she talked to him, "I think Sora had the right idea about splitting up. More ground is covered that way."

"Elsa," he repeated sternly, but she ignored him.

"So why are we sticking together? We're wasting time and manpower. So you keep heading that way, and I'll check out this direction, and we'll meet up later. Sound good? Good!"

She turned on her heel to point forward again as she continued walking, but mid reversal she ran into something. Into _someone_ actually, judging by the grunt she heard from whoever she had collided with. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention, I-" her embarrassed apology died in her throat as she looked at the person she had blundered headlong into and came face to face with Hans' older twin brothers.

_Don't go near him, you psychotic freak!_

_I always knew there was something off about you, you… you monster!_

As their words and the events of Prom Night came rushing back to her in an instant, panic seized her chest. Her hands flew up and ice shot out of them. It struck the ground between where Elsa and the twins stood and ice spikes formed and jutted upwards. They grew large and sharp before slowing to a halt. An icicle stopped just short of one of the brothers' chest, while a second one uncomfortably poked the tip of the other brother's nose.

All three stood rigidly still, staring at each other over the jagged frozen barrier, no one daring to move for a second. Then, as if some sort of enchantment had been lifted, one of the twins suddenly turned and bolted, barreling through the crowded sidewalk. The sound of his thundering footsteps seemed to shake his sibling out of his stupor as well as he stumbled backwards slowly before chasing after him.

Elsa released a breath she had not realized she had been holding. Eyes wide, she looked down at her shaking hands.

Her shaking _gloved_ hands.

_Why?_ her mind whispered. _How did my powers slip through?_

She suddenly became of aware of how quiet it was. Far too quiet for the daytime on a busy city street. She looked up and around. Everyone-

_Everyone_ was gawking at her.

* * *

_**Author's Note:** Oh noes! Elsa's done it again and gone and made a spectacle of herself! How is she going to get out of this one? And just what was up with Sora, hm? Where'd he go gallivanting off to? So many questions, so little time xD_

_Hoped you liked the Rapunzel bit too! Don't worry, KH is gonna start creeping into her bit of the story sooooooon! It's coming!_

_Special thanks and much love to everyone who have shown support for my quirky little series! Thank you all for reading, hoped you liked it, please leave feedback and let me know what you think! Until next time, hope you all have an amazing week! ^^_


	4. Chapter 4

"Great, now we have no idea where they are anymore. Just. Great," he grumbled at this twin brother, who was currently doubled over, hands on knees, trying to catch his breath.

"It was your dumb idea to follow them in the first place," he responded in between pants.

"And it was _your_ idea to run away."

He glared as he straightened up. "What else was I supposed to do when I was almost frigging _impaled_ by an icicle?"

Crossing his arms, he sneered, "I don't know, have some balls?"

"Hey, you didn't stick around either."

He stuttered, "I, uh... had to follow you and... make sure you didn't do anything stupid!"

Rolling his eyes, he said, "Whatever, man." He turned and began to walk away.

"Hey, where are you going? We have to go back and find her again."

"To get something to eat. I'm starving. This whole mess is your fault, so you're paying."

"Ha! Good luck with that. I don't have any munny."

He halted in his tracks and whipped his head around. "You _what?_ "

Startled, his answer came out weakly, "I… kind of spent all the munny I had to buy our train tickets."

He grabbed a handful of his brother's shirt and shook him. "You _dumbass!_ I don't have any munny either. Forget food, how are we supposed to get back home?"

"Er… call Mom and Dad?"

"And explain to them where we are and why we're here? No thanks. You got us into this, so you can get us out."

"And just how-"

"Pardon me, gentlemen," a new voice interjected. They both froze and turned their heads to eye the stranger that had approached them. A smirk upturned one corner of his lips as he went on, "Sorry to interrupt, but I couldn't help overhearing."

The twin holding the other's shirt narrowed his eyes. "You could have helped it by minding your own business," he growled, releasing his grip as he turned to face the newcomer.

"Touché. But just hear me out, I-"

"Are you deaf? Butt out, pretty boy." The brothers loomed over the other man.

Normally, the stranger would not be considered short by any means, but standing next to the twins practically dwarfed him. He threw up his hands in surrender. "Alright. Got it. Loud and clear." He turned and began to walk away, casually tossing over shoulder, "I was only trying to help with your little dilemma, but I suppose you'll have to figure out some _other_ way to come up with some dough. Good luck with that."

The brothers exchanged a look. One of them started shaking his head, but the other ignored him and asked, "What do you mean?"

Coming to a stop, he said, "Oh, it's practically impossible making a quick buck in this city. And without any munny, you'll probably be sleeping on the streets tonight."

"The streets?"

"Oh yeah." The stranger inspected his nails with a cool eye. "Cold. Damp. Not to mention the disease-ridden rats."

An audible gulp. "...r-rats?"

"And that's only the start. Good thing you two look like you can handle yourself in a fight, because you'll be fending off thugs all night. Big, knife-wielding thugs. A lot of them. And I do mean a _lot_."

One teenager looked visibly nervous. He glanced at his brother, who seemed considerably less impressed as he shook his head again, this time more rapidly. Again, it went ignored. "You said you wanted to help us… what'd you have in mind?" His sibling smacked himself in the forehead.

A smirk once again tugged at the stranger's mouth. "I knew you'd come around. Trust me, guys, I'll be lining your pockets with cash in no time."

The more dubious brother cocked an eyebrow. "So what, you're just handing out munny?"

"Please, I wouldn't insult you by giving you charity. No, a couple of strapping young gents like yourselves obviously want to earn your keep, and I have just the thing. An… errand, if you will, that you can assist me with. The pay is good, and we'll have you both on a train back to your mom and pop in no time. What do ya say?"

His fingers massaged his chin. "Hm.. I dunno about-"

"Fantastic! It's settled!" He grabbed his hand and vigorously shook it. Moving on to his brother to repeat the gesture, he asked, "So, you two bruisers got names?"

"Uh… Jakob Stabbington." He used a free hand to jerk a thumb towards his face, then pointed at his twin. "That's Josef. You?"

"Flynn." His grin broadened. "Flynn Rider."

* * *

They all just stood there. Staring at her. Their faces were blank, expressionless. It seemed they did not know what to think or how to react. If they did, they were certainly doing a good job of keeping it all on the inside.

Elsa's eyes shifted wildly from one stranger to the next before looking at the pointy ice structure almost as tall as she was that she had materialized in a matter of seconds. Her heart was pounding. Her palms suddenly felt clammy inside her gloves. She gulped. She needed to do something. _Anything_. Soft muttering could be heard and her attention snapped back up, looking for the source. Two of the people in the crowd were having a hushed conversation, eyes still fixated on her. Someone else several yards over started to whisper to their neighbor as well.

She couldn't make out any of the words, but she seriously doubted she wanted to find out what was being said or what would come of it. Taking a hesitant step backwards, she scanned for an escape route, preparing to bolt.

"Lookie! Lookie!" boomed a familiar voice, then suddenly Axel had leapt in front of her, hiding her from sight. His back was to her as he faced the crowd, drawing their focus to him. "Fire breathing!" he exclaimed, before inhaling deeply and expelling a burst of flame skyward from between his lips. The throng of onlookers shrank back with yelps here and there as the fire flew up and dispersed.

He paused momentarily to flash his audience a dazzling smile before puffing up his cheeks again, turning his head and blowing another jet of fire out, this time directed at the mass of ice. The entire thing was engulfed and swiftly began to melt. Shortly, it was nothing more than a puddle on the cement.

He then theatrically outstretched his hands as he addressed the spectators once more. "See? Just all part of the show, folks! Travelling street performers, that's us!"

There was a lull as he waited for something. Then a slow, almost uncertain clapping could be heard ringing through the silence. After a couple seconds, another one joined in. Abruptly, there was an outburst of applause from everyone. With a smirk, Axel took an exaggerated bow, his spiky red locks bouncing with the motion.

As he straightened up, he shouted over the ovation, "Thank you, thank you! But don't give me all the credit! Kindly direct your praise to my lovely partner here as well!" He turned to find Elsa just gaping at him. He reached towards her and she backed away, shaking her head rapidly. Not deterred, his hand whipped out at her faster than she could react, snatching her by the wrist and dragging her stumbling forward to stand beside him. The crowd started cheering and whistling. He held her hand up over her head before he bowed again, pulling her down and forcing her to mimic the action. When she came back up, her eyes were large and unblinking.

"You guys are great! We'll be here all week!" Axel said as the commotion started to die down and everyone around them began to disband. A child broke through the crowd and ran up to Axel, holding up some munny with a huge, admiring grin. "What's this? Oh, don't mind if I do. Thank you!" He took the tip and the kid ran off to return to his mother. Axel pocketed it, asking, "Not too shabby, huh?" When he didn't hear a reply, he turned just in time to see Elsa vanish down a conveniently nearby alley way, the last of her platinum braid disappearing around the corner.

He gave another quick look around. Satisfied that no one seemed to be looking in their direction anymore, he moved to follow her.

He did not spot her right away when he entered the alley. It was small and somewhat cramped; really the only place to hide would be behind the dumpster about midway down that spanned almost the entire width of the lane. Sure enough, he heard a soft sniffle emanate from that area. He walked forward, edging around to the other side of the dumpster and looking down to find Elsa sitting on the ground, head hung and arms hugging her knees to her chest.

A thin layer of ice coated the ground beneath her and was snaking outward, but not far. At least that was all there was. No flecks of ice swirling around her or anything like that. That had to be a good sign, right? He crouched down in front of her and waited patiently. She would talk when she was ready.

"...it was Prom Night all over again," she said finally, her voice wavering.

"Snowflake, on a scale of one to Prom, that scored in the negatives. The situation was defused, people have already forgotten about it and are moving on, and no one got hurt. And hey, bonus: you didn't bury the city under a mountain of snow this time. I call that progress." He added a tiny "Yay!" at the end for emphasis.

She continued to stare at her feet. "It's just… today was going so well… I hadn't thought about that night or Hans or my powers. With you and Sora, I just felt like a normal teenager. I haven't felt that way in… I don't even know how long." She clenched her hands into fists. "And then those two had to show up. What are they even doing here? Are they following us?"

"Who knows. Could just be a coincidence. But if they are tailing us, I'm sure we'll find out why soon enough."

With a sigh, she raised her hands to inspect the gloves. "Why didn't they work this time? They always have before."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you. You don't need them. They don't actually do anything, you just think they do. It's the placebo effect."

She shook her head. "But then this time should not have been different. If it's all in my head, then I still thought they were working and nothing should have happened, but it did. Why?"

"You're changing. Your powers are growing stronger. Your gloves may be able to fool you into believing they work, but they can't fool your abilities." He shrugged. "It was only a matter of time."

Elsa was silent a moment, scuffing her boot against the ground as she thought. "...when we first met, you told me the Organization helped you learn to master your powers. But you also said you were born with them. So you must have had some sort of control over them before the Organization came into the picture. How did you do it?"

He did not answer right away as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, about that…"

She caught something in the tone of his voice. "Have you not actually had your fire powers since birth?"

"That's not it. I was born with them… when I was born as a Nobody."

"Oh," was all she said at first, her voice colored with surprise. She had not thought of becoming a Nobody as some sort of birth. Then again, she had not thought about it much period, so she had no idea what it was like. "...so then, how long have you been a Nobody?"

"A few months. Right when the Organization picked me up."

"And when you became a Nobody, you could control fire? Just like that, when you couldn't before? Why?"

"Not sure," he shrugged. "But it's the same for the other Nobodies who kept a human form. If Organization XIII knew why, they kept their lips sealed on it. Maybe the powers are always there, locked away and dormant, until a Nobody is born. Maybe they go active as some kind of substitution for what we're missing, to fill the void."

She took a few seconds to let his words fully sink in. "So it really was just through the Organization that you learned to control your powers?"

He shook his head as he responded, "To tell the truth, they helped, but not much. Commanding and manipulating fire actually came pretty naturally to me. Never ran into any of the trouble that you seem to. Of course, I don't have any pesky emotions to worry about either, so that could have played a part."

She snorted with a sour twist of her lips. "Oh, okay, so all I have to do is be taken by the Heartless and become a Nobody. I'll get right on that." Her shoulders slumped. "Seriously, what am I supposed to do? Fear triggers my powers, love undoes it, but is there anything that would just… _prevent_ it in the first place? It's not like I'm doing this on purpose... it just happens."

Instead of answering her, Axel reached out, took one of her hands in his and started drawing it towards him. She snatched it back, asking, "What are you doing?"

"Trust me."

"We already had this conversation. I don't trust you, remember?" she said coolly. The fact that she still was still refusing to look directly at him seemed to add weight to her words.

He rolled his eyes with a grin. "Well, just suspend your disbelief for a minute, okay?" He stretched out his hand and took hers in his again, bringing it closer to him. Resting it gently in his palm, he started to pull her glove off, lightly tugging at each of the fingers one by one.

"Don't," Elsa whispered, but she did not pull back this time.

"It seems to me that the problem is you're always afraid. Afraid of someone finding out what you can do, afraid they'll think you're a monster, afraid of hurting people. You live in constant fear." He finished freeing one of her hands and went to work on the other as he continued, "But then it's that fear that causes you to do the very thing you're scared of. It's a catch-22... can't control your powers because you're afraid, but afraid because you can't control your powers. But you can't let the fear run your life." His task completed, he held up her gloves. "And to do that, you can start by getting rid of these." With a flick of the wrist, he tossed them into the dumpster.

"Hey!" she protested.

"If you were so attached to them, you should have chosen a better hiding place. Behind the dumpster is just begging me to throw your useless crap away."

She pouted, but it was half-hearted. "Fine. Now what?"

"Hey, give me a break. I'm making this up as I go, I don't have everything figured out yet." He took both of her hands in his. "But we will figure it out, I promise."

"...thank you." She watched as his thumbs traced slow, reassuring circles along the bare skin on the back of her hands. Normally, with how unpredictable her abilities could be, anyone who touched Elsa would be at risk of being frozen into a very lifelike, very solid ice statue. With his fire powers however, Axel was the only person who was in absolutely no danger from touching her. To say that skin contact with another human being was a rare occurrence for her would be an understatement. So this tiny gesture from Axel was far more comforting than it had any right to be. It also left her hands feeling... tingly...

She heard a tiny voice in the back of her mind ask why he even bothered. He didn't care about her or what she was feeling. He couldn't, it wasn't in his nature as a Nobody. So why did he comfort her? Was he just manipulating her? Was it just a means to an end? If so, to what end? What did he want from her?

Elsa banished those doubts from her thoughts with a shake of her head. For the first time since the the start of their conversation, her eyes lifted up to look at him. And then she blinked. "What happened to your face?"

He arched an eyebrow at her. "My face?"

"Yeah, there's stuff on it." There were two new markings, one on each cheek directly beneath the eyes. They were black and looked like upside down tear drops. She raised a finger to touch one and it smeared. When she pulled away, her fingertip was coated with the same black substance. Crinkling her nose, she rubbed her darkened finger and thumb together. "Looks like it's… ash?"

"Oh, that. I threw it on right before distracting that mob from your little frost incident. I figured it would help sell the whole street performing circus act vibe, ya know? Looks like clown makeup, don't you think?"

For a few seconds, she just gave him a blank stare. Then slowly, almost reluctantly, a smile broke out across her face. Then she burst out laughing. "You're ridiculous, you know that?"

"Well well. Aren't you two just simply _darling_ ," a new voice said cynically from the opening of the alley. Axel was immediately on his feet, every muscle in his body visibly tensed. Elsa rose as well - though admittedly not as quickly or as smoothly - and studied the newcomer.

A girl that looked to be about Elsa's age, possibly older, stood there. Her eyes were pale blue and her bright blond hair was about shoulder length and slicked back. Two lengthy locks were styled to hover back over her head, looking rather like a pair of antennae. A long black coat hugged her slim figure, adorned with silver chains at the lapels that matched the drawstring on Axel's hoodie. The coat hung open, showing off her yellow tank top with a demented-looking, melting smiley face on it and her black pleated miniskirt. She wore heeled boots that were a sleek black and went up to her knees.

She greeted them with a wicked little smirk. Her hip jutted out to one side and she placed her hand on it. Her other hand came up to cover her mouth, showing off her neon yellow nail polish. Her tone oozing with mock concern, she drawled, "Oh, I'm _so_ sorry. Did I spoil the moment?"

* * *

_**Author's Note:** Oh gosh, so much happened in this wee little chapter!_

_First off, that's right! Han's older twin brothers are, in fact, the Stabbington brothers from Tangled! Aw snap! …guess that'd make Hans' last name Stabbington too xD With a name like that, no wonder he turned out so evil! Also, Flynn has made his first appearance, yay! What shenaniganry is that tricksy devil going to be up to, hmmmmm?_

_And we got a bit of a peek into more of Axel's background! We all know Elsa's story from Book 1. This book, I'm planning sharing with you guys more of Axel's life up to this point, as well as insights into what it is to be a Nobody! Also bonus, there was a nod to his teardrop tattoos this chapter xD Don't know if you recall from Book 1, but I never said he had any in the first place. As stated earlier at some point in this story, Org XIII wants its Nobodies to blend in, not draw attention to themselves… kind of hard to do that if you come home one day suddenly sporting facial tats xD_

_BUT THEN AW SNAP! LOOK WHO DECIDED TO MAKE A GRAND ENTRANCE AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER?! Need I even name her? Come on, ya'll know who it is xD Buckle up, kiddos, shits about to get real! Also next chapter... mayhaps we'll find out where Sora disappeared off to, hm?_

_Special thanks and much love to everyone who have shown support for this quirky little series! Thank you all for reading, hoped you liked it, please leave feedback and let me know what you think! See ya'll same time next week! :)_


	5. Chapter 5

Axel relaxed, but only slightly. He flashed a cool little smirk. "Larxene," he said. Elsa's eyes darted to him. So the two knew each other? "What an unpleasant surprise."

The blonde tilted her head to one side, her own grin unwavering. "Oh Axel. You always did say the sweetest things to me." She began to saunter closer to them.

"You know me. I'm all heart," he replied.

Her grin twitched a little wider. She'd caught his little joke, so she knew he was a Nobody. Could she… was she a Nobody as well? Larxene came to a stop in front of them, shifting her gaze to Elsa. "I see you've moved on." She took a step towards Elsa. Axel was abruptly standing between the two girls, bringing Larxene to a halt.

Larxene giggled, "Relax, Slim. I'm not going to break your new toy." Placing a finger on his chest, she pushed him to the side. She then eyed Elsa up and down and tsked, "Really? This bit of fluff? How very domestic of you. How very…" she paused in thought, taking the time to circle slowly around her. Elsa stood firm, fighting the urge to fidget under the other girl's scrutiny.

"...dull," Larxene finally stated when she finished her assessment, meandering closer to Axel with a chuckle. She reached out to stroke a finger down his cheek. "If you'd wanted meek and submissive, you only needed to ask, Firecracker."

He shifted his head away from her touch with a snort. "Jealousy doesn't suit you, Larxene."

"Jealous?" She laughed. It came out forced. "You know that I can't feel that or any other pathetic emotions, not since I gave up my heart to become a Nobody."

A wicked little gleam flickered through his eyes. "Give yourself some credit. We both know you were a heartless hag long before you became a Nobody."

So Elsa had been right. This Larxene girl was a Nobody. Most likely also from Organization XIII. That was probably why her coat shared similarities with Axel's hoodie - maybe some kind of uniform?

"Flattery will get you nowhere," Larxene purred, still grinning.

"What are you doing here?" Axel asked as he crossed his arms.

She hummed a note of disappointment. "Straight to the point, then? How boring." When he remained silent and just fixed her with an even stare, she threw up her hands. "You're no fun anymore. Fine, if you must know, I'm here on business. You know, the usual... looking for strong potential candidates… stationing cleanup crews here and there…"

Elsa quirked an eyebrow. "Cleanup crews? What would you need clea-"

She was silenced as Larxene pressed a finger to Elsa's lips. "Hush, sweetie. The grownups are talking," Larxene said. Elsa glared at her. Larxene looked at Axel once more, continuing, "This city is about to go nuclear."

Batting the offending finger away from her face, Elsa asked, "Nuclear?"

His eyes remained trained on Larxene as he answered, "She means the Heartless are closing in on the heart of this city."

Elsa inhaled sharply. If the Heartless found this city's heart, then it would be devoured by darkness. There would be nothing left. Just like Destiny Islands, Sora's home.

As if she could read her mind, Larxene said, "All gone. Boom." She snapped her fingers. "Just like that. So anyway, here I am, doing my job like a good little soldier, when I come across a fire-breathing, attention whore of a clown. Imagine my surprise to discover that it's none other than you."

"And you were surprised?" Axel asked. "I'm always an attention whore of a clown."

"No argument there. But why, oh why, are you so far away from where you are supposed to be?"

"Like you know where I'm supposed to be."

"Arendelle," Larxene stated flatly. "Making a certain special…" her eyes fell on Elsa, "...acquisition."

"And you came by this information how?"

She rested one hand on her hip and lifted her chin. "Let's just say I make it a point to know where my possessions are at all times."

He shook his head. "Well, your intel was bad. I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be."

She considered him for a moment before asking doubtfully, "So you haven't gone and done something idiotic, like turning on the Organization."

"Come on now. Would I do something like that?" he replied innocently.

Larxene narrowed her eyes. "Somehow, that's less than reassuring.." She then shoved a hand in her coat pocket and pulled out a phone. "And if I were to get in touch with headquarters about this…?"

"They'll ask why you're wasting their time with shit they already know."

She frowned, then said, "I think I'll take my chances."

Axel shrugged. "Your funeral."

"We'll see." She unlocked her phone with a couple swipes as she turned her back to the pair and took a couple steps away. Pressing a button that appeared to be a quick dial, she brought the phone up to her ear. It rang once.

Then it was engulfed in flames. Hissing through her teeth, she quickly dropped the phone, escaping with only a few hairs singed. The burning device clattered to the ground, sizzling and melting under the extreme heat. Larxene watched it for a second, then looked at Axel.

He gave her another shrug and murmured, "There was a bee. Wouldn't want it to sting you."

"Wrong move, Firecracker," she chided with a sneer. "Wrong move." She drew her hands down and back, splaying her fingers out. Her body began to spark and shimmer with tiny flashes here and there. As the effect grew in frequency and intensity, Elsa realized it was freaking _electricity_ running up and down the other girl's body.

"Wild guess here," she muttered to Axel, not taking her eyes off Larxene. "Her power is lightning?"

"Gee," he deadpanned. "What was your first clue?"

* * *

Sora wasn't sure why he hadn't told the other two the real reason he had run off. Sure, he had not exactly lied - he _was_ keeping an eye out for the Keyhole, and breaking into smaller groups really _could_ help them find it faster. But he had not exactly told them the whole truth either.

Maybe he hadn't told them because he couldn't quite believe what he thought he had seen himself.

He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, doing his best not to trample anyone else on the bustling sidewalk. He skidded to a stop just before a crosswalk, panting and sweating, eyes scanning from one person to the next, getting more disappointed with every unfamiliar face he saw. That was until…

_There!_ For a brief second, he saw it before it disappeared behind a group of obvious tourists. Sora practically fell over his own two feet as he charged in that direction.

He covered the entire length of the block in three seconds flat before coming to a halt again, trying to catch sight of his quarry once more. _Come on… You gotta give me something… Anything…_ He turned his head just in time to see another glimpse of it as it vanished down a side street. _HA! Got you now!_ His nostrils flared as a surge of triumph flooded his chest before he quickly pursued.

He turned the corner and his eyes bulged as he stumbled to a standstill once again. An empty dead end stood before him. One building to each side and a tall, boarded fence at the back. There was no door, no windows, not even so much as a grate or a gutter. No one and nothing was there. Sora was alone.

Frowning, he slowly walked forward. He glanced around, looking for any possible exits besides the one he had just come through. There were no fire escapes overhead and the walls themselves were smooth and unscalable. _There's gotta be something, he couldn't have simply vanished into thin air!_

He was beginning to think his mind had been playing tricks on him. Approaching the fence that formed the back wall, he studied it. It was made of wooden planks and wasn't really _that_ high. Sora could easily climb over it. Which, more importantly, meant others could as well. Without hesitation, he crouched and hopped up, latching his fingers onto the top edge of the fence. His feet scrambled against the wood for a few seconds before friction managed to lift him enough so he could pull himself the rest of the way up and over it to the other side.

He landed in a squat, pausing to take in his surroundings. It was some sort of construction site, judging by all the bulldozers, excavators, giant mounds of dirt, and the incomplete building in the middle of it all. It seemed like it was the workers' day off, as the place was deserted.

Sora crept forward. It felt like something was waiting for him. Was that crazy? It had to be. This whole thing was crazy. He couldn't possibly be chasing who he thought he had been... right? There was just no possible way _he_ could be here. And if he was, why not just walk right up to him instead of being all mysterious and playing this game and leading him on a wild goose chase. That wasn't him.

...actually, on second thought... that sounded _exactly_ like him.

As Sora walked past a forklift, he heard a soft noise behind him. He spun around only to find nothing there. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Then he flexed his fingers before closing them around the Keyblade as it appeared in a glimmering show of radiance. Better to be on the safe side.

As he turned back around, his eyes widened and he raised his weapon just in time to block a black blur flying at him. The thing draped over his Keyblade, reaching for him with its clawed fingers and staring with ravenous yellow eyes. Flinging it away, he watched as it hit the dirt and scrabbled to its feet.

"Heartless," he snarled. He had been wondering when they'd show up. If there was a Keyhole somewhere, Heartless wouldn't be too far off. He raised an eyebrow as he eyed the lone monster. "Just one? Sucks to be you." He abruptly lunged at it, Keyblade aimed to impale it.

In the space of a heartbeat, the thing had flattened to nothing more than a shadow on the ground. Sora only managed to stab air and he hissed through his teeth as he watched the monster, a mere silhouette now, slip by beneath his feet. He spun on his heel, watching the thing dart about haphazardly before it melded into the shade beneath the nearby forklift. "Hey! Come back!" he called petulantly, running over to the giant vehicle and crouching down to look under it, Keyblade ready.

He failed to notice as the Heartless stealthily reappeared behind him. Without a sound, it slowly, cautiously crept towards Sora's back, the boy completely oblivious to its advance. It crouched low to the ground and went utterly still for a second, antennae twitching as it observed its prey.

Then it pounced.

A glyph on Sora's bracer suddenly blazed a fierce, brilliant green. A giant translucent shield of the same color materialized at his wrist and he felt his arm being violently jerked behind him to intercept the oncoming threat. He spun around, immediately on guard, only to discover it had all been unnecessary.

The Heartless had already been destroyed, and standing in the wispy black tendrils that were its remains was the person who had destroyed it. And that person was…

"Riku?!" Sora yelped in shock. "Is it really you?" He wasn't dreaming, right? A silly grin that went from ear to ear split his face. Keyblade vanishing in the blink of an eye, he tackled the person in bone crushing bear hug.

Every muscle in the other person's body instantly went tense as they staggered backwards and right away, Sora knew something was wrong. He released them and stepped back, eyeing them with confusion.

They were wearing dark, loose fitting jeans, sneakers, and a zipped-up jacket with the hood raised, obscuring their face from view. The jacket was a dark grassy green with vibrant yellow stripes ringing the sleeves. He'd recognize this jacket anywhere. It was what all the jocks at Destiny High, Sora's school, had worn. Sora would know since Riku had owned one just like it. It was this jacket that had caught his eye earlier from across the street, that had caused him to split up with Elsa and Axel, that he had been chasing through the crowded city for the past half hour. On its left breast was a little star, and the letters R.H. were embroidered inside of it. Riku's initials.

But this _definitely_ wasn't Riku.

Riku was tall, a full head above Sora, whereas whoever this was was shorter than Sora by at least an inch. Riku was lean, but muscled. The individual standing before him now was scrawny, practically swimming in the jacket - he couldn't even tell if it was a boy or a girl. Riku had startlingly white hair. It was all but impossible to see inside the oversized hood, but if he looked hard, he could spot strands of jet black bangs dangling out from its depths.

The two of them stood there quietly, just staring at each other for a moment. When it became clear that the hooded figure wasn't going to be the first to break the silence, Sora frowned. Finally, he asked, "Who are you? Where did you get that hoodie?"

The person raised their hands, which were entirely engulfed by the sleeves, to look at the jacket in question and said nothing.

Sora narrowed his eyes. "It belongs to my friend. His name is Riku. Did you see him? Was he hurt? ...did you steal it?" The figure looked up from studying the sleeves and still did not utter a word. Sora grit his teeth. "Why do you have it?!"

The question came out harsher than he meant it due to his frustration at not getting answers. He immediately regretted it. The person jumped and took a nervous step back, looking ready to turn and bolt.

Shooting his hands up, he said more calmly, "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap. I'm just... I'm really worried about my friend is all. Maybe... did you just find that hoodie lying around?"

They hesitated for a few seconds before appearing to relax slightly and nodding slowly.

"So then that means... you haven't seen Riku?" he pressed. The figure shook their head. Sora's shoulders slumped and he hung his head. His vision blurred slightly. "Oh…"

After nearly two weeks of searching and coming up with nothing, he thought he had finally found his first clue as to where one of his friends might be. But it had only turned out to be a dead end. Were Riku and Kairi even out there? Or had they simply vanished along with the rest of Destiny Islands? Was he being foolish for even hoping? Maybe this all was just a waste of time...

He felt something on his shoulder and raised his eyes to see that the mysterious person had come to stand directly in front of him and place a hand on his arm. Though they remained silent, their intent was clear. They were trying to comfort him. He gave them a weak smile. "Heh. Thanks," he murmured.

The small gesture was just what he needed to squash his doubts. He couldn't give up on his friends. Not now, not ever. They wouldn't give up on him. He was going to find them, no matter what!

"I'm Sora, by the way," he told them. He politely waited a second to allow them to return the favor, but they didn't. Big surprise there. Eyeing the stranger up and down once more, he pursed his lips thoughtfully. Maybe there was still a clue to be found here. "So, could you maybe show me… _where_ you found the jacket?"

There was another long pause. Then he could hear a slow intake of breath from within the hood, as if they were preparing to finally speak.

Then the fingers still on his shoulder suddenly squeezed tightly. Sora let loose a low hiss of surprise, but was unable to do anything else before the stranger had shifted their hand to his chest and gave him a rough shove to the ground.

"Hey! What the-?!" Sora began, but immediately stopped when he looked up. The figure had leapt backwards, landing knees bent and looking ready for a fight. They threw a hand out to one side. A black haziness started gathering around their fingers, convulsing and expanding. Streaks of purple sparked within its depths as it began to take a shape and solidified.

When it had fully hardened, it was sword, black with a red blade that was shaped like a bat wing.

Sora's breath caught in his throat. It was unsettling that they had summoned a weapon that they were about to attack him with. What was even more unsettling was that they had _summoned_ a weapon at all. But probably what was the most unsettling was the _way_ they had summoned it… it was similar to the way he had seen someone else summon a weapon just a few days ago…

Who _was_ this person?

Without warning, the figure charged towards him, sword raised. They were fast and he had no time to get back on his feet. Instead, he threw his arm up in front of him, waiting for his shield to burst into existence and protect him from the oncoming assault.

It never did.

* * *

**_Author's Note:_ ** _AW SNAP SHIT IS GETTING REAL! Get ready for a rumble next chapter between Larxene, Elsa, and Axel! As for Sora… bet you're really curious what's going on with this mysterious person in Riku's hoodie, hm? xD Bet some of you have guesses as to who it is… and who knows, some of you might even be right… and some of you might be WAAAAY off! But I'm not gonna say one way or another until it is revealed in the story :3 Have fun pondering that one until then, kiddos ;D_

_Fun Fact - I actually did not write Split Ends in order at all. I just picked a character (or character **S** , if they were grouped up) and wrote their storyline for a while, then picked another character and wrote their story for a while, etc. Then later I went back and weaved the different storylines together into one whole story and then broke it down into chapters. It was fun figuring out what was happening when and piecing everything together like a big puzzle xD_

_Also I started posting a new KH story! If a modern mutant school AU told through the eyes of a certain sassy fire starter interests you, please go check it out under my profile, titled **Svarog**._

_Special thanks and much love to everyone who left feedback for this quirky little story! Thank you all for reading, hoped you liked it, please leave a comment and let me know what you think! Be back for next week's update! :3_


	6. Chapter 6

The stranger swiftly drew closer, their shoes noisily kicking up gravel as they ran, their winged blade gleaming a dull, blood red in the sunlight.

Sora stared down at his bracer, eyes wide and mouth agape. The sigils on it weren't lighting up. There was no shield. It wasn't doing _anything_. He gave his wrist a few flicks, trying to shake the device into activity. Still his brace remained dead. What, had the stupid thing's batteries ran out?

...did it even have batteries?

He looked up to see that the hooded figure was almost on top of him. With no time, he shielded himself with his arm, hoping the metal of the bracer would be enough to parry the attack.

But the attack never came.

At the last second the figure leapt, sailing over Sora's head and landing behind him. Blinking, Sora flailed on the ground like an overturned tortoise, trying to spin around. He turned just in time to watch as the stranger swung their weapon, slicing a Heartless clear in half and dispersing into a puff of dingy smoke.

That's when it clicked. The person hadn't been attacking him. They had been _protecting_ him.

That'd also explain why his shield hadn't work. It only activated when he was the target of a strike. He thought the stranger had been aiming for him, but they had instead been aiming for a Heartless that had appeared behind him.

Sora watched as the person smoothly readjusted their stance to skewer their sword through a second Heartless that had been leaping through the air towards them. It too exploded into nothing more than mere shadows. It was then that Sora realized that he and his new "friend" were surrounded. A small horde of Heartless had gathered around them, forming a ring, caging them in.

The hooded figure had their back to Sora, sword poised in one hand before them, the other hand behind as they waved it hastily in his direction. Their message was clear.

_Stay down. Leave this to me._

Sora snorted with a smirk.

Fat chance.

He called forth his Keyblade in a blast of pure light and hopped up onto his feet. Blue eyes calculating, he scanned the enemies around them. Then the corner of his eyes crinkled as an idea came to him. He began to concentrate and without a word, his Keyblade started to glow. It was dull at first, but it steadily grew brighter and brighter. Soon it was so brilliant that it seemed to dim everything around it by comparison, as if it was sucking the light right out of its very surroundings. Slowly, Sora drew his weapon back over his shoulder.

The stranger hadn't noticed what was occurring, their full attention still on their foes as the shadow monsters crept in closer. Every muscle in their body was rigid and it was clear they were about to release an onslaught of attacks. They only managed to move one step however before Sora threw his arm forward with all his might and let the Keyblade soar.

It spun rapidly as it flew over the other person's right shoulder, bright and fast, a streak of blinding light tearing through space. It struck the first Heartless and the creature erupted into black mist instantaneously. The blazing white Keyblade then bounced to the right, perfectly aimed for another Heartless, ending in the same result. It continued on its path of destruction, ricocheting from one shadow to the next, obliterating every single one it came into contact with. The stranger's hood shifted back and forth in stunned silence as they tried to keep track of the weapon's erratic movements.

Finally there were no Heartless left. Having left a scattered trail of smoke in its wake, the Keyblade redirected its course once again, this time shooting straight for the person in Riku's jacket. They barely ducked down in time, twisting around to see Sora catch it in his hand.

No longer in motion, the light died down and Sora slung the humongous key over his shoulder, a smug grin on his face as he swiped a thumb over his nose.

_Heh. Leave it to who?_

He watched as the hood tipped to the left in curiousity.

"Oh this? This is the Keyblade," he explained, puffing up his chest as he answered the unvoiced question. Then he eyed the stranger's batwinged blade with a frown. "I see you have a strange weapon yourself."

Their shoulders went stiff as they looked down at the sword they carried. With a flick of their wrist, the weapon disappeared in the same fashion as it had materialized in. Sora furrowed his brow. It was hard to tell without being able to see their face, but with the haste behind the gesture, it almost felt like they were… ashamed?

The person hesitated after that, then began to approach him, reaching a hand tentatively towards Sora's weapon. Sora asked, "You want to know more about it? Well, it's basically Heartless kryptonite. Heartless are those things we just wailed on, but maybe you already knew that. It can also open or seal anything, like locked doors and containers and-"

He abruptly clamped his mouth shut. He had been about to tell them about the Keyholes. However for some reason he couldn't explain even to himself, something was telling him not to share that bit of information with this stranger. Even though part of him felt that holding back that little tidbit was the right call, it didn't sit well with him.

The hooded figure stared up at him, waiting patiently for him to continue. Sora cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head. "And… you know, just other stuff… like that," he finished lamely.

The stranger continued to watch him a few seconds, not saying anything. It was a struggle for Sora not to fidget under the scrutiny. Then the hood abruptly turned to the left, as if something behind them had caught their attention. Raising an eyebrow, Sora looked passed them, but nothing was there. The person grew very still as the silence stretched on.

Just as Sora was about to say something, they suddenly stumbled backwards and their whole body quivered. Their hands flew up to cover the sides of their head, covering where their ears would be under the hood, as if they were trying to block out sounds. But there were none.

"Woah, what's wrong?" Sora asked in concern. The person stamped a foot and gripped their head tighter as they began to shake it from side to side. "Are you okay? Is there something I can do?"

He began to raise a hand towards them, but they swatted it away, their knuckles colliding with his bracer. As quickly as it had started, it was over - whatever _it_ was. The stranger's violent tremors stilled and their hands fell to their sides. And just like that, they had a new interest. They reached a hand out once more, this time pointing at his brace.

"Huh?" he asked, both eyebrows shooting up his forehead.

What had _that_ been about?

And how had the person seemed to forget about it so easily?

They pointed at his armguard again, and he lifted his arm so they could get a better look at it. "...you want to know what this is? Well… it's actually kind of neat. It was given to me by some people who helped me after I was separated from my friends. See the different sigils on it? They all do cool things. This one projects this awesome green shield made of light." He pointed at a symbol that resembled a dog. Seemingly intrigued, the hooded figure began to reach out to touch the bracer. "And this other one-"

As soon as the stranger's fingers brushed the metal of the brace, the very symbol Sora had been pointing at, depicting a duck, flared up a brilliant, piercing blue. The armguard emitted loud, angry sounds of static and sparks flew from it. Sora didn't feel a thing, but the other person clearly did. They whipped their hand back as if burned.

Sora's eyes widened. "Wha- Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I don't know what happened. When I showed it to Elsa and Axel, it didn't- oh! That's right, you don't know who they are. They're my friends. They helped me out a few days back and now we're all traveling together."

He paused briefly as an idea began to form and his face brightened. "Why don't you come with us? I think you'll like them if you meet them! You'll never believe it, they've got, like… badass superpowers. Elsa controls ice and blizzards and stuff, while Axel flings fire from his fingertips all _pew, pew, pew!_ " He made finger guns and mimed shooting them off with his improvised sound effects. His bracer caught his eye again and he frowned thoughtfully at it.

"One sec," he muttered before turning his back to the person and walking over to the forklift. "This thing is ancient and probably just going haywire. It probably just needs a good-" Rather than continuing his explanation, he decided to show instead of tell as he banged the armband against the hard surface of the construction vehicle. The bracer sparked and buzzed some more in protest before settling down again. "There! That should do it. No more zapping my new buddy. Anyway, follow me and I'll-"

His words died in his throat as he turned back around to discover he was now alone. He blinked. "Eh? Where'd you go?" The only answer he received was silence.

He spent the next several minutes calling out and searching the construction site, but the person in Riku's jacket was nowhere to be seen. It was if they had simply vanished.

Sora finally came to a stop as he gave up with a huff. It was no use, they were long gone.

He didn't know who this person was or what they wanted. What he _did_ know was that they had fought the Heartless with him, so they couldn't be all bad. And he was sure there was no shortage of Heartless to be found in this city, so chances were good he'd run into them again.

Maybe then he could get some real answers.

* * *

Sneakers pounded hard against the sidewalk as the person in Riku's hoodie ran. They hardly paid any attention to where they were going, and it was up to other people to get out of the way if they didn't want to be knocked off their feet.

It had not been part of the plan to split on Sora without warning like that. But then, it also had not been part of the plan for Sora to become some sort of... _Chosen One_ or whatever. The Keyblade? That strange gadget on his wrist? Even those strangers he had mentioned he was now traveling with… his...

...friends...

_You mean his_ new _friends,_ a voice that was not their own tickled the back of their mind.

Their only reaction was to run faster.

_Oh, come now, there's no need to sulk. Just because he has... replaced you..._

"Shut up, shut up, _shut up!_ " they spat as they skidded to a stop, clasping their hands over their ears once more. The flow of the crowd on the busy sidewalk quickly adjusted, giving the person a wide berth. "I haven't been replaced!"

_You don't need that wretched boy anyway._ The voice was soft and like honey. _Not when you have me now…_

They snorted as they dropped their hands and balled them into fists. "You… I don't even know what you are!" they snarled. Several people began crossing the street to avoid the weirdo yelling at a voice no one else could hear. The person in Riku's hoodie didn't notice. "I seriously doubt you're a friend though."

_At least_ I've _never lied to you._

They went rigid. "That… Sora didn't-"

_He did. He tried to deceive you. But we know better, don't we? We know all about the Keyholes…_ A chorus of echoes accompanied the last word, reverberating throughout their mind.

"...I'm sure he had his reasons."

_Who are you trying to convince? Me? Or yourself?_ Hidden within the confines of the hood, the person's face twisted into a petulant scowl, and the voice laughed. It was dry and throaty and wholly terrible to hear. _No matter. On to other topics. Would it please you to know that your search is almost over? The other person you have been seeking is close… I can sense him._

That caught their attention. "Where?" There was a determined edge to their voice as they demanded, "Take me to him."

* * *

As the lightning coursed and writhed along Larxene's form, some of it began to gather around her finger tips. Thorned, black wisps appeared and swirled around her hands. The current crackled and danced angrily in her palms, a chaotic, ever changing web of light growing brighter until in a blinding flash, it was suddenly gone. In its place, resting between her fingers that had curled into fists, were now several knives. They each had a blue handle in the shape of a cross and a yellow blade that was small, but lethal looking.

Elsa gulped.

Larxene arms slashed the air, one after the other, as she let loose all her knives. As Elsa scrambled to dodge the first volley of yellow streaks, one blurred passed her face and left her cheek with a stinging sensation. She couldn't dwell on it as the next wave of daggers were a split second behind the first. She barely had time to duck beneath them, eyes wide and heart racing as she heard the knives sink into the wall behind her with loud _thunks_. She looked to her left to check on Axel and found him crouched low beside her.

They had a beat to exchange glances before a behemoth lightning bolt tore through the air towards them. They leapt apart to opposite sides of the alley just as it struck the ground between them, bursting the asphalt into smoking rubble.

Scarcely having landed, Axel whipped a hand to one side and it was immediately enveloped with fire. It churned and condensed into a blazing ball that he hurled as Larxene.

She gracefully sidestepped the projectile and it sailed harmlessly past her, exploding against a wall and leaving it charred. With a cruel smirk that sent a chill down Elsa's spine, Larxene flung one arm in an arc, unleashing another bolt of lightning.

Elsa had seen Sora cast lightning spells before, but what Larxene could do put that to shame.

The devastating thunderstroke hurtled towards Axel as he threw both his hands up in front of him. Again, flames burst into existence in his palms, flaring out wide and spinning around white hot cores. The electricity collided with the swirling, fiery disks and dispersed wildly in all directions, scorching the walls and floor. As the last of the lightning was grounded, the fire wheels flickered out to be replaced with Axel's chakrams. He folded his fingers around the handles in the center of each, then without hesitation, charged at Larxene.

Every bone in Elsa's body screamed at her to help him. Without a thought, she swept an arm back and in her arced fingers, an ice shard began rapidly forming. The temperature in her palm was subarctic as the air crystallized. However the icicle, barely having begun to take shape, shattered when something suddenly wrapped tightly around her wrist, breaking her concentration. She swallowed a yelp as she looked down to find a-

_What... the_ hell _is that?!_

Some sort of pure white, vaguely human-shaped creature had latched its hand onto her. Well, if one could call it a hand, as it was more of a fingerless, palmless arm - a tentacle really. The thing was slightly shorter than her, with a lithe and stick-like body. It swayed from side to side, its limbs relaxed and seemingly boneless. It had no eyes, no nose, nothing but a mouth that was zipped tight. Literally, a zipper fastened it shut. The crown of its head was flat with some strange emblem printed upon it.

Taking a step back, Elsa tried to yank her wrist free. To her surprise, its arm stretched like elastic and snapped back, its grip holding firm. She blinked, then gave it another tug, only for it to bounce back again. The creature cocked its head to the side as if to say, _Bring it, I could do this all day._

She swung her free arm, preparing to give the thing a face full of ice. Unfortunately, she did not get very far as she felt something suddenly fasten around her other wrist. With a groan, she turned her head to find a second creature exactly like the first, her wrist held in its clutches. Both her arms were now restrained.

The creature on the right, the new one, gave her arm a downward jerk, forcing her to hunch forward and bring her face to face with it. She grit her teeth, trying to pull back as the thing's mouth began to unzip of its own accord. It slowly opened to reveal a set of slate black, saw-like teeth that were grinning at her in a most unsettling fashion. The teeth parted unhurriedly before snapping shut again with a loud _chomp!_

A noise emitted from Elsa's throat that was something akin to a squeak as one thought crossed her mind. _Screw this!_ She clenched her right fist and focused her will into it. Flecks of snow began to swirl around it and frost started forming on the creature's arm. Sparse and fragile at first, it swiftly expanded and hardened, coating the appendage in a thick layer of ice. The monster looked from her to its hand, now appearing to be less confident in the situation.

When its arm was completely frozen over, Elsa wrenched her own arm upward with all her might. The ice fractured, then shattered into thousands of tiny pieces as the creature fell flailing backwards. Not wasting a second, she enveloped her now free hand in a fresh layer of hard ice and expanded it out, forming a gleaming, two foot long spike of ice at the end of her arm. She stabbed it down into the monster that still held her other hand in its vice-like grip. The thing vanished in a burst of hundreds of tiny lights that scattered and flickered out.

She turned to deal with the other one and her head shot up. It was no longer alone. There were now several more behind it, walking towards her in the same boneless swagger the first two had had. She did not know what these things wanted, but they were most likely with Larxene, so it probably wasn't good. She raised her left arm and from it grew another sharp icicle identical to the one on her other hand. With a snarl, she prepared to face them head on.

Her snarl drew Axel's attention and he started to turn his head to check on her. He did not get a chance however as Larxene attempted to take advantage his distraction. Her daggers had returned to her by now and were once again nestled between her curled fingers as she tried to rake the blades across Axel's chest. He was forced to raise a chakram in a hasty block.

Their weapons momentarily locked, Larxene leaned in closer to him, favoring him with a nasty smile. "She is not your concern at the moment. I am."

He returned the smile with an equal amount of nastiness. "But Larxene, I'm always concerned about you. After all, weren't you dropped on the head as a baby or something?"

"You're one to talk," she said flatly, suddenly crouching down and sweeping a leg out, trying to knock his feet out from under him. He leapt out of the way just in time, his legs folding up into him, his knees against his chest. As he landed, he raised one arm over his head and it, along with his chakram, ignited in an inferno before he slashed it horizontally through the air. The flames were flung from his arm, swirling in on themselves and growing, until a cyclone of fire surged towards Larxene.

She cartwheeled out of the way, propelling herself on one hand. As soon as she regained her footing, she flung a handful of her daggers at him. He swatted the first few away with his chakrams and dodged the last couple. The crackling sound of thunder abruptly came from overhead, and Axel just managed to skid to a stop in time as a bolt of lightning struck the ground right in front of him. He altered his course to close the distance between him and Larxene, zigzagging to avoid being electrocuted as more bolts rained down from the sky in his wake. His chakrams began to spin his hands like buzzsaws and he held them in front of him as he sprung at her.

She struck forward the hand that still held knives, catching the spikes of the chakrams between her weapons and bringing the spinning to a grinding halt, proving just how strong she and her daggers were. The fight came to a brief standstill once again. He was panting. Her breathing was heavy.

"Brings back memories, doesn't it?" Larxene asked between breaths. "Late night training and sparring… sweating… tension rising… and… unwinding afterwards…"

He harrumphed. "Violence is foreplay for you. It never was for me."

She raised a thin eyebrow at him. "I never heard any complaints from you."

"Hey, girls have needs, even psychopaths like you. Who was I to deny them?"

"Pig." She threw a punch at him, her fist crackling with energy. He ducked, narrowly avoiding the hit. As he straightened up once more, he flashed her a shit-eating grin.

"Ha! Ya missed!" He didn't see her arm coming back from the other direction with just as much force. The back of her fist slammed him square in the jaw and electricity pulsed painfully through his flesh. Dazed, he bounced backwards to put some space between them as he tried to see straight again. He blinked a few times and worked his jaw. It felt like it had gotten into a fight with an electric toaster and lost, but at least nothing seemed to be broken. Still, it would leave a mark.

"You hit like a girl," he said, his words slurring together a bit.

As his vision snapped back into focus, he saw her shaking her head. She demanded, "Why?"

"Maybe because you have lady parts?"

"Not that," she snapped before letting out a sigh. "If you were any dumber, you'd be a friggin' sea cucumber. No, _why_ have you turned your back on the Organization? Why have you gone rogue? Why are you doing all of this?"

One corner of his mouth upturned. "Turned my back? Gone rogue? Who said I was doing any of that stuff? I think there's been a major misunderstanding here."

She stuck her hip out to one side, resting a hand on it. "You could see where I'd get confused, you know, the way you've been attacking me for the past several minutes."

"To be fair, you threw the first punch," he shrugged.

"Well if somebody hadn't fried my phone… Now who was that? Oh right. That was you."

"Oh that? I was just messing with ya. Didn't think you'd get all bent out of shape about it. You were due for an upgrade anyway."

"And her?" Larxene looked passed him. She was watching Elsa.

His face was blank as he asked, "What about her?"

"Don't think I haven't noticed the way she's throwing ice and snow around."

His head turned to one side as he said, "She hasn't exactly been hiding it, so you'd have to be pretty dense to miss it. But well done, Captain Obvious. You expecting a gold star for your observation?"

"The point is you did make a little stop in Arendelle," she said, her tone sickenly sweet. "So if you're not a turncoat, why is she here and not already delivered to headquarters?"

"Oh, you thought she was _that_ girl?" Axel laughed, placing his hands on his hips, the flats of his chakrams resting against his sides. "No, the Arendelle girl was already dropped off at HQ days ago. This is a different girl. You'd be surprised how many people have freeze powers nowadays. They're a dime a dozen. Like weeds, really."

"Is that so?" She giggled into her hand. "Well, if people with her power are so common, why do we need another? After all, what do you do with a weed besides…" she pointed her hand at Elsa, golden sparks flying around her fingers, "...pluck it? That is, unless that would bother you?"

He lazily raised an eyebrow. "Bother? Why would I be bothered?"

"Oh, I don't know…maybe you got attached to your shiny new toy? But that would be silly, wouldn't it?"

"Pfft. Me? Attached? Please." He gave her a mocking half bow with a sweep of the hand. "Be my guest."

"With pleasure," she purred. The static circling her hand intensified into lightning as she prepared to release a fatal strike.

"Just one thing," Axel piped up. "One tiny little detail you should know."

Larxene asked impatiently, "And that would be?"

In the blink of an eye, Axel had chucked both his chakrams at her. The whirling wheels of fire and metal blurred towards her and she barely dodged out of the way in time. She moved to retaliate, fist still electrically charged, ready to light Axel up like a neon sign.

But he was no longer standing before her. He was nowhere to be seen.

"She is not your concern," his voice growled from behind her, echoing her earlier words. She turned and was met with Axel's knee striking her hard in the gut. She grunted, doubled over in pain and staggered back a few steps.

It was time to go. Like, right now. Larxene was stunned, but Axel knew it wouldn't last long. He had only bought them a few seconds at best. He rushed past Larxene so he could grab Elsa and split. Elsa's back was to the Nobodies, oblivious to all that had just occurred as she cleaved a group of her opponents with one of her ice blades. Just as he was about to reach her, he heard that tell-tale sound of crackling behind him. _Too soon_ , his mind raced.

He spun around on his heel, the sole of his Converse scraping against the ground, and threw out both hands in front of him as intertwined, jagged bolts of lightning flew towards him.

Elsa felt something brush against her back. Thinking it was another of these strange monsters trying to sneak up behind her, she whipped around and raised one of her icicles overhead, ready to impale it. Instead she was faced with Axel's back, arms stretched out before him and at his fingertips, a giant, swirling dark portal. He was using a Corridor of Darkness as a shield against Larxene's assault, a monstrous stream of lightning that seemed to flow unending from her hand and into the void.

Larxene showed no signs of running out of energy any time soon. She seemed at ease, in fact, as she took one step forward. Then another. She was closing the distance between her and them.

Elsa did not know if holding open the dark portal was taxing on Axel. At least he showed no hint of tiring. But exhaustion was not the issue here. What was was the fact that Axel could not move or stop concentrating on the portal, not unless he wanted to drop it and allow the both of them to be electrocuted. And with Larxene moving closer, what would happen to them when she got within arm's reach?

She turned back around. Though she had managed to destroy several of the weird creatures, still more remained, with new ones appearing every second. Their numbers seemed to be without limits.

They were blocked on both sides, trapped in the middle of the alley. Running wasn't an option. But there had to be some way to escape. She glanced over her shoulder at Axel again, then was struck with a thought.

"Axel!" she called.

His eyes remained focused on his task. "Little busy here."

"If we used a Corridor of Darkness to get out of here, would Larxene be able to track where we came out?"

He looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. "Don't you think I considered that already? The darkness will hurt you and-"

She cut him off. "But will she be able to follow us?"

Axel was silent for a second. Finally, he said, "Unlikely. But the darkness-"

"It doesn't matter. Do it," she snapped as she banged the two frozen spikes that encased her hands together, letting them shatter and melt away. She then swept her arm wide, releasing a powerful, wintry gust of air that knocked the closest wave of monsters several yards back, giving herself and Axel some much needed space. "Do it now!"

There was no further argument. Elsa suddenly felt Axel's arm wrap around her waist as he yanked her off her feet. Then everything went black.

* * *

**_Author's Note:_ ** _Wooooooow, can you say intense?! And yessss, if you couldn't tell by now, I do love my little cliffhangers in this series xD This is definitely not the first, and trust me when I say this is far from the last._

_If you squint, you can see some parallels between the first scene this chapter and the first reunion between Sora and Riku in KH1._ _And hoped you liked the battle in the second half of the chapter! Larxene is a lot of fun to write, and Axel and Larxene sassing each other is HELLA fun to write!_

_What's gonna happen to our intrepid heroes next? You're gonna have to wait to find out, because next update we peek in on Punzie again, since it's been a couple chapters since we've seen her!_

_Special thanks and much love to everyone who left feedback for this quirky little story! Thank you all for reading, hoped you liked it, please leave a comment and let me know what you think! Until next time, hope you all have a wonderful week!_


	7. Chapter 7

Rapunzel's face was scrunched into a petulant frown as she laid sprawled across her bed. She rested on her stomach, propped up by her elbows, the pen in her hand a blur as she wrote in a book. Her diary. It was the closest thing she had to a friend who she could tell all her secrets to. A confidant.

Oh sure, she had her mom, but that was different. Her mother was her guardian, her keeper. Besides, Rapunzel could not complain to her mother about… well, her mother. Then there was Pascal. True, he was always willing to lend her an ear when she needed it. But there was only so much she could tell him. He didn't know about her power, why she was locked away up here. He was paid not to know, only to guard. He wasn't even supposed to talk to her in the first place, just ignore her like all her other guards did. He risked his job every time he spoke to her. She wasn't about to make it worse by telling him more than he should know and risk losing him.

She had had another friend once, several years ago. An internet friend. Oh yes, Rapunzel had access to the web. She wasn't living _completely_ under a rock. In any case, she had never told this online friend anything important, nothing about her little secret anyway. She hadn't wanted to. It was just nice having another person to talk to, someone new... someone that helped take away the loneliness, that made her feel just a little bit less isolated.

It had not taken long for her mother to discover her online acquaintance, however. And the day she found out was the last day Rapunzel had ever spoken to that person, for she never saw them log on again. Her mother refused to tell her what she had done, simply that she had "taken care of it." Ever since then, Rapunzel avoided forming online friendships, for fear of what would happen to them. Not that she thought Mother had hurt her friend...

...at least... she hoped she hadn't...

In any case, her faithful diary was the only thing left that she could turn to. Though it might seem strange in this modern day and age to be keeping an actual, physical diary as opposed to typing it all out on a computer, Rapunzel preferred it. There was something very cathartic to her about putting a pen to paper. Besides, this wasn't exactly the type of stuff you could blog about.

When she finally finished recounting what a disaster her talk with Mother had been, it was hours past lunchtime. She had yet to eat, but she didn't feel like eating anyway. She was too frustrated. She paused, frowning off into space for a moment, her eyes not particularly focused on anything. Finally, she decided to include one last sentence in closing to her latest entry.

_When will my life begin?_

Sighing, she dropped the pen and buried her face into the mattress.

Somewhere in the room, something fell with a dull _clunk!_ Startled, her head shot up quickly. Her eyes scanned the room, but she didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Squinting, she lifted herself off the bed and began to inch towards the kitchen, which was where the sound seemed to have come from.

Stepping onto the linoleum floor, she scrutinized the area, but everything seemed to be in order. It wasn't until she was about half way across that her toes brushed against something cold, and she hopped away, hands flying to her mouth to stifle a squeak. She looked down to find a frying pan on the floor. Raising both eyebrows, she stooped to pick it up, muttering, "How did you get down here?"

Standing once more, she looked up at the overhead cupboard that the pan normally resided in. It was closed. Frowning, she began to reach for it. Her hand immediately snapped back to her chest when the cabinet door suddenly quivered, a noisy rustling sound coming from within.

_What the?_

Maybe… a mouse had somehow found its way into her condo and had taken up residence in her cupboard? It'd have to be an awfully big mouse, by the sound of it…

Steeling herself, she firmly held the frying pan in one hand and moved the other towards the cabinet once more. An inch before touching it, it shook again. She hesitated for a split second before grabbing the knob and throwing the door open to reveal…

Nothing. It was just dark inside the cabinet. Confused, she edged closer to it and raised herself onto her tippy-toes to get a closer look.

A white blur suddenly rushed out of the darkness and flew at her face. Yelping, she swung the frying pan, striking the thing hard and catapulting it several feet away. It skidded to a stop on the ground and it seemed the hit had made the creature woozy, as it staggered to regain its footing while lulling its head from side to side. This gave her the time to get a better look at it. It was pure white and human-like, long and spindly, and had no face, except for what appeared to be a zipper in place of a mouth.

Admittedly, Rapunzel's world experience was limited - small to nonexistent, really - but she was pretty sure that _that_ wasn't normal.

As the thing finally managed to steady itself long enough to stand upright, Rapunzel held up the pan defensively between her and it, gripping the handle tightly. She wasn't about to attack it again, not just yet. Perhaps the creature had sprung at her just because it was cornered and scared. Gulping, she said in a soothing, if somewhat shaky, voice, "There, there. No need to be afraid. I won't hurt you, and you won't hurt me, okay?" The thing cocked its head to one side at her and began to lazily sway from side to side. Emboldened, she took a step towards it.

"That's right. Nothing to worry about. Nice…" she paused, not quite sure what to call it, since she didn't have a clue what it was. There was that zipper. What had zippers…? Clothes! Clothes had zippers! Come to think of it, the thing did kind of look like a small, pale jumpsuit. Or a onesie… like footie pyjamas! Yah, that was what it reminded her of. "Nice pyjama monster! Good pyjama monster! How'd you get in here? Are you just looking for some place safe to stay for the night?"

It started hopping from one foot to the other, taking long leaps. It almost seemed to be... dancing? She took another careful step towards it, frying pan still in front of her but beginning to lower a bit. "Huh. Does that mean you're happy, pyjama monster?" Another step.

The creature suddenly stilled and began convulsing. Its shaking was violent, as if it were eager, practically champing at the bit about something. Then it lunged at her.

Now, maybe it just wanted to cuddle, and Rapunzel did tend to be the trusting sort of person. But she wasn't _that_ trusting. She gasped and swatted her skillet at it. This time it seemed to be prepared as its body simply snaked around her weapon, bypassing it completely and shooting straight for her. She ducked barely in time, feeling the thing brush against her scalp as it went over her head. Then she took off running, yelling over her shoulder, "Bad pyjama monster! Bad!"

She heard it crash into something - the fridge or the stove, judging by the noise of the collision. She spun around, attempting to brandish her cookware once more, but the creature was faster. She felt something brutally smash into her chest, knocking her off her feet and onto her back. With a groan, she looked up and found the thing perched on top of her. Its tentacle-like arms reached for her face as its "mouth" unzipped, revealing razor sharp rows of teeth set in a eerie smile. It was making a sound that, while rather unique, could only be described as a growl.

Yup, definitely _not_ friendly.

Struggling, she managed to pull her legs up and get them between her and the monster. Kicking both feet out at once, she punted it off her and then rolled over, propping herself up on her hands and knees. She looked up and first thing she saw was her front door on the far side of the room. And, more importantly, the intercom. If she could get to that, Pascal would be in here in a flash to take the thing down.

Her face hardened. No. She wouldn't take the easy way out, screw that. This was her chance to prove to her mother that she could take care of herself! Then mother would _have_ to let her go to the festival, or let her do whatever else she wanted! But first, she would have to subdue this strange critter… capture it. Glancing around, the first thing her eyes fell on were her wardrobe.

Perfect.

Bounding to her feet, she made a beeline for the armoire. The monster was chasing her. It moved silently, so she couldn't so much hear it as she could sense it in the form of an itch in her spine. Shuddering, she pushed herself harder to get to her destination faster. Almost there and-

Her foot caught on something and she tumbled to the floor, just inches short of her wardrobe. A loud _bang_ boomed overhead, and she looked up to see the creature had collided with the exact piece of furniture she had been aiming for. It seemed her nose-dive, though accidental, had been perfect timing. What had she tripped over anyway?

Having the brief second to spare while the creature was dazed, she looked back at her foot to see it had gotten tangled in her own hair. Well _that_ was unexpected. She was so used to the ludicrous length of her own hair causing it to be everywhere that she _never_ tripped over it.

Then again, she also never had been chased around the condo by a strange monster either.

She turned her face forward and from her position on the floor, looked up at the thing, which had recovered. As it prepared to strike once more, she looked from it, to her hair, then back again. Then she smirked.

Years of playing make believe as a sheriff in the lawless west were about to pay off.

The creature leapt at her and she rolled out of the way. Hopping up to her feet once more, she started gathering handfuls of her hair into loops around her knuckles, like coiling a long rope. Then, working furiously, she fashioned her locks into a golden lasso, whirling it over her head a couple of times before hurling it at the creature as it charged at her once more. The thing didn't even try to dodge, so she ensnared her target easily. She tugged her hair taut, tightening the loop around the monster, before using all her might to swing it into the wardrobe.

It would have helped if the wardrobe's door had been open.

It hit the wood with a sickening thud before collapsing into a heap on the floor. She winced, then narrowed her eyes at creature. It didn't move. Maybe it was knocked out? She picked her frying pan up off the floor, where she had dropped it when she had toppled over. Holding her weapon ready, she tip-toed closer to the beast. It remained still. Gingerly, she disentangled the thing from her hair. Then she opened the door.

As she turned back to it, she found it shakily, almost drunkenly, rising to its feet. Without hesitation, she cracked her skillet across the thing's skull (did it even have a skull?) which sent it flying inside the armoire.

Okay. _Now_ it was knocked out.

She slammed the door shut, pressed her back against it, heart racing, eyes wide and shifting around rapidly, searching. They fell on one of the dining chairs. She dashed over to it, dragged it back to her wardrobe, and shoved it under the handles to ensure her captive would not be able to bust free.

She then leapt backwards, threatening the large piece of furniture with her pan, just daring the thing inside to try and escape. The wardrobe remained still. She squinted at it a minute more, poised like a cat ready to pounce. Then her muscles began to relax as all that had happened sunk in.

"I… I did it…" she whispered, in awe of herself. Then she laughed and looked into the mirror on her vanity. "I actually did it! Who's has two thumbs and is a badass?" she asked her reflection. Then she jerked both thumbs up to point towards herself. "This girl. That's right. That's-"

A loud bang made her jump, squeak, and run for cover behind her bed.

Nothing happened. After a few seconds, she cautiously peeked out from behind the canopy. It turned out what had made the noise had just been a baseball bat she had left leaning against the side of the wardrobe. It seemed all the activity that had just occurred around the armoire had shaken the piece of sports equipment loose and caused it to teeter over.

Rapunzel chuckled as she got out of her hiding place. "I knew that," she brushed off as she propped the bat up once again, ensuring its stability before turning to reach for her smartphone. Unlocking it with a few swipes, she tapped the only number listed in her contacts: Mom. As she pressed the device to her ear and listened to it ring, she mumbled to herself, "Starlight Festival, here I come."

* * *

Rapunzel's mother sat primly in her chair as she waited. She was currently seated in an empty reception area of a well furnished and sophisticated looking business office. Her hands were neatly folded in her lap, with one finger tapping on top of the other as she eyed the grandfather clock across from her. She had been waiting for some time now.

She started when a buzzing sound suddenly came from her purse. She opened it up and pulled out her phone, which was vibrating. Looking at it, she discovered she had a call coming in from Rapunzel, indicated by the picture on the screen of a five-year-old girl with very long blond hair and a huge, gap-toothed grin. An old photo of Rapunzel from when she was much younger.

She smiled down at her smartphone. Rapunzel was probably wondering where she was and what was taking so long. "My daughter," she said by way of explanation to the receptionist, who just gave her a stiff, polite smile in response. "Dear, sweet child," she went on, still looking at the phone, "So completely and utterly lost without me."

Swiping a finger across the screen to accept the call, she held the phone up to her ear and said, "Hi, darling. I know I told you I would be home by now, but errands are taking a bit longer than expected and-"

Rapunzel's voice impatiently cut her off, causing her posture to go rigid. _"Yeah, yeah, I don't care about that. Mother, I-"_

"Excuse me, young lady?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

She heard Rapunzel make a small, somewhat strangled noise. She had realized her mistake. _"Ah… what I_ meant _to say was… I understand how busy you are, Mother! So while I do love you and, um... miss you terribly while you're gone, it doesn't bother me if it takes a while for you to return because I know you have important stuff to do and will hurry back as soon as you are able!"_

Rapunzel's mom smirked. "That's more like it."

" _Now, Mother, I-"_

"So what do you want for dinner tonight?" she asked, crossing her legs. "I was thinking hazelnut soup."

" _That's fine, Mom, but what I really wanted to talk to you about-"_

"I mean, I know how much you like it. It's your favorite, is it not?" she pressed.

A sigh. _"Yes, that sounds great. You're simply the best mother in the whole wide world. Now, remember our talk earlier about how you think it's too dangerous for me to go outside?"_

She frowned. "I vaguely recall… something about a Streetlight Fiesta…"

" _Starlight Festival,"_ Rapunzel corrected her. _"Well, I've been thinking and you need to know that I'm a lot more capable than you realize, and just now, I-"_

"We're not going through this again," she said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

" _Please, let me finish. So, here's what happened. I was writing in my diary and-"_

"Oh, I know what you write about me in that diary of yours," she interjected with a roll of her eyes.

" _Mom,"_ she dragged the word out, _"I don't write anything bad! And that's not the point. So anyway, I was writing and all of a sudden there was this-"_

She rose from her chair. "The point? The point is that my decision is final and you will do as you're told." She raised an index finger to the secretary to signal that she'd be right back in a moment, then stepped out of the waiting room into the hallway.

" _But- but if you will just listen, you'll see that-"_

"No, you will listen to me. I am your mother and I am the one in charge here," she snapped as she shut the door to give herself a bit of privacy.

" _Oh, come on! Please just-"_

"Rapunzel!" She was beginning to raise her voice.

" _This is so unfair! You never listen to me! Can't you let me-"_

"That's enough!" she roared, and all arguments ceased on the other end of the line. Clearing her throat, she said more softly, yet sternly, "I don't have time for this right now. We'll talk about it later. I'll be home around dinnertime." Then she ended the call before her daughter could say anything else.

She just stood there for a moment, staring at the device in her hand with a scowl. She then released a small huff, returned it to her purse with a shove, regained her poise and stepped back into the reception area.

"Ms. Gothel?" the secretary asked as she re-entered. "Mr. Tyrann will see you now."

"Thank you," she responded as she fluffed her hair. She then moved past the front desk and into the appropriate office.

The room was large, filled with expensive furniture that just oozed with authority and control. Every piece practically screamed that a very successful business mogul worked in this space. Behind a glossy desk that could have been mistaken for a small aircraft carrier, sat a man signing some contracts. He was well dressed, with brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard and mustache. A thin streak of grey hair that looked rather stately ran just over his ears. His blue eyes were hard, his face chiseled.

Without making a sound, Ms. Gothel approached the desk and delicately took a seat in the cushy armchair opposite of the man. He did not look up right away nor do anything else to show that he was aware of her presence, just continued to scrawl his signature across more papers. She waited without saying a word.

After a few minutes, he finished the last page and put it aside as he finally looked up at her. He laced his fingers together on top of his desk and broke the silence with, "Ah. It's that time of year again, is it?"

She did not respond. Just stared at him, her demeanor aloof.

"Very well," he sighed, opening a drawer in his desk and pulling out a checkbook. He flipped it open to one and dated it. "How is she?"

Again, she said nothing, her expression as stiff and unchanging as a statue.

Mr. Tyrann wrote a number on a check that was followed by more zeroes than a hunk of Swiss had holes. He signed it, ripped it out and held it up her. He began, his voice softly pleading, "Zoe, I-"

She snatched the check out from between his fingers, rose and began to walk out.

"This can't go on forever, you know," he said to her back, stopping her in her tracks. "I _will_ find her."

She gave him an icy look over her shoulder. "Dream on," she growled. And then she left, the door quivering as it slammed shut behind her.

* * *

_**Author's Note:** So that wee lil Nobody that we saw briefly back in the prologue/ch1 has finally come out of hiding! And Punzie may have been a bit more than it bargained for xD What do the Nobodies want with our dear sweet Blondie, hmmm? And what shady business is going on between Gothel and this "Mr. Tyrann" at the end, hmmmmmmmmmm? You'll just have to wait an see ;D_

_Special thanks and much love to everyone who left feedback for this quirky little story! Thank you all for reading, hoped you liked it, please leave a comment and let me know what you think! See ya'll next week :)_


	8. Chapter 8

Everything was cold. So very cold. And it had nothing to do with the temperature. It was rather the empty kind of cold. The lonely kind, emphasized by the endless darkness surrounding her. Then there was the pain. The pain that covered every inch of her body, stabbing at her, tearing at her, burning her. The worst was centered around her heart, eating away at it bit by bit. At this rate, there would soon be nothing left. That would have been a terrifying thought to her, if she had had the luxury of feeling terror. Instead, all she could feel was the agony that felt like it had been going on for millennia.

As if someone simply flipped a switch, it all suddenly stopped. It was no longer completely pitch black. Elsa's eyes were squeezed shut, so she still could not see anything except the light against her eyelids. She heard the sounds of people around her. Felt a warm, mellow breeze on her skin and playing with her braid. Her body now only felt a dull ache that was slowly fading. The ache was welcome compared to the pain of just a few seconds earlier. Her breathing was heavy and unsteady.

"Told you it would hurt," she heard Axel say.

She rasped tiredly, "I… thought it would be easier the second time… now that I… knew what to expect…"

"Trust me, it will never get easier for you." There was a pause where all that could be heard was Elsa's labored breaths. "You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah," she nodded weakly.

"Think you can stand on your own now?"

She did not respond right away, confused by the question. What was he talking about? She was standing just fine, wasn't she? Then she smelled it. That familiar scent of cinnamon and burnt timber. She slowly opened her eyes and realized she was leaning into Axel for support, her head resting against his chest, her fingernails digging into the fabric of his hoodie. They were standing on a crowded sidewalk and people were unabashedly staring at her as they passed by.

Feeling her cheeks warm, she gently pushed away from him and wobbled slightly. He reached out to steady her and she held up a hand to stop him. She stabilized herself, standing still on her own strength. "I got it," she muttered.

"You sure?"

"Yup. I just need a minute to walk it off," she said firmly. She took a step, nearly had her legs collapse under her, but caught herself. Hoping Axel hadn't noticed, she took another, more confident step, before finally being able to manage a walk that was respectable, if somewhat shaky. She heard Axel's footsteps as he hurried to catch up and walk beside her.

They walked in silence for a bit, Elsa feeling her strength slowly return to her as she took in their surroundings. Judging by the buildings around them, they were still in Corona. _Where_ in Corona, she could only guess. She supposed it did not really matter, as long Larxene couldn't find them. Besides, now she had been given the opportunity to get some questions answered.

"What were those things?" she asked, to which Axel merely raised an eyebrow. "You know, the zipper-mouthed beasts that were attacking me. Were they a new kind of Heartless?"

"Ah. No, they were Nobodies."

She furrowed her brow. "Nobodies? But… you… you're a Nobody, and you look nothing like-"

"You remember how Nobodies are created, right?" he interjected.

"Well, yeah… when a Heartless steals someone's heart, it leaves behind a body and soul that become a Nobody."

He nodded. "Right. But how the Nobody comes out looking depends on how strong their heart was. If they had a strong heart and will, then they'll keep their human form, like me. Like Larxene. But if their will is weak and their heart is fragile-"

"-then they come out misshapen and inhuman," she finished in understanding. She was now recalling Sora explaining that previously, but it had slipped her mind in the crazy whirlwind that had been the past few days.

"Bingo," he said as he knit his fingers together behind his head. "And like the Heartless, they come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Those ones back there are the most common though. We call them Dusks. They take orders from us Organization members."

"Why didn't you tell them to leave me alone then?"

"Cuz I don't know if you noticed, but that bunch didn't seem too keen on doing anyone's bidding besides Larxene's."

"You have a point," Elsa admitted. "Speaking of, what was she talking about? She said something about potential candidates… candidates for what? And clean up crews? What would she need clean up crews for? She doesn't really strike me as the community service type."

He seemed to consider the question before asking. "What happens when a city's heart gets devoured by darkness?"

Thinking back to the news reports on Destiny Islands, she ventured, "The… city disappears?"

"Well, duh. What else?"

"... Heartless... are created from the people who were within the city?"

"And…?" he drew out the word and made a twirling gesture with his finger, indicating to go on.

She pursed her lips in thought. "And… Nobodies. Nobodies are created as well."

"Exactly," he said, tapping his nose. "And so a majority of those end up being lesser Nobodies, like the Dusks. But sometimes, they pop out like me."

"A dork?" Elsa smirked.

"Hey, don't hate just 'cause you're jelly of how awesome I am," he said, ruffling her hair in retaliation. "Anyway, you know what I mean. They come out human. And these newbies are disoriented... have a lot of questions... need someone there who can help them understand what happened to them."

She looked down, processing what he said. "So you try to identify those with strong hearts and wills before they become Nobodies. Those are your potential candidates. Then if you're right, you have someone in place ready to guide the new Nobody."

"There you go, you're catching on."

"What about the clean up crews she mentioned?"

He scratched his cheek. "When a city goes under, a lot of free floating hearts are left behind."

"Right, which the Heartless snatch up."

"Not necessarily," he shook his head. "Not immediately, at least. It's not for lack of trying though, as those little buggers tend to get into a bit of a feeding frenzy. But those hearts are up for grabs if you're quick enough. So our clean up crews are Dusks and other lesser Nobodies, trying to beat those Heartless to the punch and steal the hearts first."

She cocked her head. "Okay… but why does the Organization want hearts?"

Axel shrugged. "Not a clue. You'd have to ask the head honcho. He's the one who gives the orders, we just follow them."

Well that was disturbing. It was one thing for the Heartless to collect hearts - they were just mindless monsters driven by instincts, a disease that infected and spread without thought or remorse. But the Organization and Nobodies were thinking, rational entities, so there had to be a reason behind why their leader wanted those hearts. What could it be?

With no answer readily apparent, she put that aside for the moment and asked, "...so… how long before Corona goes... 'nuclear,' I believe was the term?"

Axel bobbed his shoulders again. "Not sure. With Larxene setting up shop in town, I'd guess a day or two. Three tops." Something caught his eyes as they lit up and he came to a stop. "Ah, just what the doctor ordered."

Elsa walked a few steps past him before stopping as well to turn and look at him, then follow his gaze. They were standing front of an establishment with a colorful, fogged glass window sporting two neon signs. The first simply blinked the word 'Open', the other was a martini glass crossing a green bottle. "Uh... a bar?"

"Yup," he said, walking towards it.

"You can't be serious. We have seventy-two hours _max_ before this city is wiped off the face of the planet. We should be looking for the Keyhole."

"And I am. Who's to say it's not in here?" he asked, opening the door, halting to look at her. "Besides," he theatrically splayed a hand against his chest, "after the ordeal I just had, I need a drink." He threw her a wink and then walked inside.

"Axel!" The door shut behind him with a firm _thud_. She just stared with her mouth hanging open. Snapping it shut, she stood there for a moment, fidgeting awkwardly. Then with a huff and a stamp of her foot, she rushed in after him.

* * *

The hospital room was like the inside of a mausoleum, stagnant and cold. Instead of smelling musty and old however, it was sterile and lemony fresh. Instead of wilting flowers, there were beeping monitors. And instead of an angelic statue watching over a coffin, there was a frail figure in a green and yellow jacket holding vigil over a bed in which a patient lay, unmoving.

At the foot of the bedframe was a hospital chart that said a whole lot of nothing. It stated that the occupant of the bed was comatose, followed with pages of numbers, graphs, and paragraphs upon paragraphs of words that basically all summed up to the fact that no one had a damn clue why. The rest of the pertinent information on the clipboard was pretty straightforward. The patient was a young male, estimated to be sixteen or seventeen years of age. Eyes: light blue. Hair: silver. Name: John Doe.

He had had no ID on him when he had been found. No family had stepped forward to claim him. None of them, not the police, not the doctors, knew where he had come from or who he was.

But his visitor knew. This coma patient was the one that the green and yellow hoodie truly belonged to.

"Riku," they whispered, reaching thin fingers up to sweep a few pale strands of his bangs out of his face.

_The poor boy_ , the voice in their head murmured. _Such a pity._

"What's wrong with him?" they asked as their hand moved down to rest on top of his.

_What you see before you is nothing more than a lifeless puppet. An empty vessel. His heart is gone._

They hung their head, obsidian bangs cascading out from within the shadows of the hood. "Gone? What happened to it?"

A long sigh rippled across their mind. _Taken by the Heartless, no doubt._ There was a brief pause. _But… there might be a way to restore his heart and save him…_

A sharp intake of breath could be heard. They squeezed Riku's cold, unresponsive hand tightly. "How? I'll do anything."

There were no words at first, but one could almost somehow _feel_ the voice smiling. When it did speak, it was now accompanied by a chorus of voices that were soft and loud, near and distant, melodious and cacophonous, all harmonizing together to state two simple words.

_...Kingdom Hearts…_

* * *

**_Author's Note:_ ** _Sorry, short chapter, but still packed with a lot of info! Some of it straight forward, some of it subtle and more … mysterious xD_

_So we've now confirmed without a doubt that that's not Riku running around in his hoodie, but still the question remains as to who it truly is. As for poor comatose Riku? You're probably wondering if his heart was stolen, why his body is still lying around and not vanished into thin air. No, it's NOT that he's is a prince(ss) of heart in this AU xD Don't worry, I have an explanation! And you will get it… in due time xP I'm claiming a bit of artistic license with this, but hey, it's an AU, I can do what I want! Also worry not, Riku fans, he still has his part to play in this story, you're just gonna have to wait a while to see what exactly it is. Trust me though, there is a method to my madness. There always is. You'll just have to wait to see what it is!_

_Special thanks and much love to everyone who has shown support this quirky little story! Thank you all for reading, hoped you liked it, please leave a comment and let me know what you think!_ _Be back for next week's update!_


	9. Chapter 9

"Axel, this is ridiculous. This-" Elsa cut off with a grunt as she crashed into Axel's back on the other side of the door. She rubbed her sore nose as he turned around and looked down at her. "This is a waste of time. You're not even-" her words halted again, this time of her own accord as she glanced around. She continued in an terse whisper, "You're not even old enough to drink."

He held up his index finger, then fished through a pocket in his jeans. He pulled out a plastic card and showed it to her. On it was a little picture of some redheaded guy that might be mistaken for Axel if you squinted hard enough, along with information like height, weight, and eye color. It listed the name 'Reno Turk' and claimed the age 25.

"You have a fake I-"

Axel's hand clamped over her mouth, silencing her outburst. Rolling his eyes, he waited a few seconds before removing his hand and walking further inside the room.

It was your average pub, with tables and booths, darts and a rundown pool table in the back. The walls were made up of dingy red bricks and there was a long bar made of polished oak lined with stools. Behind it was a wall of bottles and flasks of varying shapes and sizes, filled with liquids that were all the colors of rainbow. Further down the bar, a bartender was flipping slowly through a magazine with a lack of interest. If he had noticed the two of them come in, he gave no sign. Except for the bartender, Elsa and Axel were alone in the place. Which wasn't that surprising, what with it being still rather early in the afternoon.

Axel plopped down on one of the bar stools. He then flashed her a grin over his shoulder and patted the stool next to him. She chewed her lower lip, looking back at the door. With a sigh, she walked over and sat down on the offered seat.

The bartender took his time making his way over to them and raised an unimpressed eyebrow at Axel. The redhead simply held up his fake ID and waited. Elsa's hands curled into fists in her lap as she suppressed her nervousness. It wouldn't do to frost over the countertop, though that certainly would have been one way to take attention away from the validity of the ID. The bartender's eyes shifted from the card to Axel once, then gave a curt nod.

"Beer and a shot," Axel said as he pocketed the ID with one hand and used the other to point at an orange bottle behind the bar with 'Fireball' printed across the label.

Still not uttering a word, the bartender then looked at Elsa. Her shoulders stiffened and she stuttered, "J-just a water for me. Uh… please. Thanks."

The man nodded again, then shambled off to prepare their orders. Elsa inhaled deeply, her nerves relaxing a bit. She then asked Axel, "Okay… now what?"

He cocked his head to one side, pondering her question. He then promptly began spinning on his stool at dizzying speeds.

She smacked herself on the forehead. After who knows how many rapid rotations, Axel grabbed the bar to stop himself, smirking at Elsa. She just crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. He opened his mouth as if to say something, seemed to think better of it, then proceeded to spin again.

Elsa snerked. She couldn't help it, it had escaped before she had even realized what was happening. She then broke down into full blown laughter, hiding her smile behind her hands.

"There it is," Axel said as he came to a stop again, resting an elbow against the bar and settling his cheek in his hand. "That's what I was going for. You're wound up too tightly. You need to learn to relax."

She was about to retort when a glint of something caught her notice. She looked down and her eyes widened and her face paled slightly. "Um… Axel? Your leg…"

"Hm? What about it?" He looked down as well. Sticking out of his thigh was one of Larxene's knives. It had ripped a rather sizable hole in his jeans, and the fraying tatters seemed to be stained black. "Oh. How awkward."

" _Awkward?_ " she asked incredulously. "Doesn't it hurt?"

He shrugged. "Not really. Adrenaline, I guess." He glanced over at the bartender, whose back was turned to them as he unhurriedly set about his work. Axel then took a hold of the dagger's handle.

"What are you-" Elsa gasped as he yanked it out of his thigh without so much as a flinch. Instead of blood, some sort of… black, oily ooze seeped out of the gash on his leg, as well as coated the blade. "... what is that?" she whispered as her nose scrunched up.

"Nobodies don't bleed," he said flatly. "Don't have blood, really. Kind of need a heart for that. Instead, we're filled with whatever this stuff is."

"You don't know what it is?" she asked. He lifted his shoulders and let them fall, to which she frowned. Then another thought came to her mind. "Larxene… she can't track that, can she?" Elsa pointed at the dagger.

He shook his head as he tossed it into the nearest trash bin. "Nah. Summon it to herself, yes, but that's it."

"Good," she breathed. "What about…" she gingerly pointed at the spot on his leg that was still leaking black sludge.

Axel wiped the goo away, flinging the stuff off his hand with a flick. Then he pressed two fingers to one side of the puncture and slowly, steadily moved them to the other side of it. He winced and grunted. A faint, almost indistinguishable sizzling sound could be heard. Elsa blinked as she realized he was cauterizing the wound. When he was done, an angry, puffy red and black patch of skin remained. He then gave her the thumbs up.

Her mouth hung open slightly. "...that it?"

" _That it?_ What, you think that was easy?"

"No, but is that all you're going to do? What if an artery was sliced and you're bleeding internally or something?"

He waved a hand dismissively. "It'll be fine. I do this all the time. I have scars all over my body to prove it."

Elsa started to argue, then stopped herself, a curious look on her face. "...all over?"

He nodded, "Yup."

"How did that happen?" she asked distractedly as her mind started filling with unbidden images of a bare-chested, scar-riddled Axel.

Shrugging, he said, "Guess I just get stuck with all the icky jobs." Then he leaned closer to her, eyes half-lidded and a wolfish smirk on his face. "Wanna see them?"

She blushed furiously, planted a hand on his face and shoved him back. "Not interested. And don't change the subject. You should see a doctor or something. You need to take care of yourself."

"Look who's talking," he said simply. At the blank look she gave him, he tapped his cheek.

Puzzled, Elsa mirrored the action, placing a finger on her right cheek and released a surprised hiss through her teeth when she felt a sting. She turned to look at herself in the mirror on the wall behind the bar. The cheek in question was covered in blood. _Dried_ blood, it looked like, thankfully, but still… how…? Then she remembered that instant during the fight where one of Larxene's knives had flown a little too close to Elsa's face. She had felt it when it happened, but there had been no time to check it. Sure enough, squinting at her reflection, she was able to spot what appeared to be a slash in her cheek that was currently clotting over.

And the cut was just the start of it. Frazzled hair, rumpled clothes that she had obviously been wearing for days, dirt smudged all over from head to toe. She was a mess. Axel too. A few days of being on the road, not showering, and fighting Heartless would seem to do that to a person. It was a wonder the bartender hadn't taken one look at the pair of them and thrown them out right away. But he hadn't even batted an eye at their appearance. Perhaps he was used to seeing worse.

Elsa jumped as she felt something cold and wet press to her injured cheek, breaking her train of thought. Squeezing one eye shut, she jerked her head away and eyed the offending item. It was a wet napkin in Axel's hand.

"Relax, it's just water," he said, pointing his chin at a glass that was now in front of her on the bar. It seemed she had been so preoccupied with the sight she currently made that she hadn't noticed her water had finally been brought to her. Two glasses, one much shorter than the other and both filled with amber liquids, were in front of Axel as well. He went on, "Now hold still and let's get you cleaned up a bit."

He extended the wet napkin towards her again, but she stopped it with her hand on his and took it from him. "Thanks, I got it."

He just shrugged. Using the mirror, she delicately wiped the dried blood off her cheek bit by bit. As she did so, she watched Axel's reflection as he poured the contents of his shot glass into the larger mug, letting the liquids mix before he took a sip. They continued this way in silence for a couple minutes, until her cheek was free of blood, leaving behind just the cut that was beginning to heal.

"So…" Elsa began, breaking the quiet. "What was with that other stuff Larxene mentioned?" He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes. "You know. That stuff about being meek and submissive, about you moving on…"

Axel looked down at his drink and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "...she and I… we sort of used to…"

"Oh," Elsa said flatly, as if she understood what he was getting at, which she did not. A beat, then her eyes widened as her mind finally managed to fill in the blank. "Oh!" Her brow knit. "But… I thought Nobodies couldn't feel things like love."

"It had nothing to do with love."

She tilted her head to one side. "Then why…?"

Axel shrugged yet again. "You don't need feelings to have hormones."

It took a few more seconds for his words to fully sink in. When they did, they elicited another soft "oh" from her as her cheeks stained pink. She cleared her throat and fell quiet again.

Looking up, she discovered there was a TV screen mounted high above, just behind the bar. It was on, but the volume was turned all the way down. It was on some news channel that was currently reporting on the disappearance of some girl. They were showing a picture of her. She was pretty, with blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair. Information scrolling across the screen reported that she hadn't come home one night from her job as a maid. Her name was Cynthia Rella and she was nineteen. Maybe it was just her imagination, but Elsa felt like she had been seeing a lot more reports of people going missing lately, particularly teenage girls. However, news about people going missing had, somewhat understandably, taken a backseat to the whole archipelago of Destiny Islands having been spirited away.

Speaking of which, the news show switched to its top story of the day, if the big red text at the bottom of the screen was any indication. It seemed another location had vanished overnight. This time it had happened on the complete opposite side of the world from Destiny Islands to a little village humbly dubbed Provincial Town. It was now just a gigantic crater. There was nothing left of it or its inhabitants, no remnants to indicate an explosion or anything. Everything was just... gone. It was as if someone had come along with a colossal shovel, scooped the village out of the ground, and hurled it off into space or somewhere else where no one would ever be able to find it.

Elsa watched the story with sadness. The Heartless had claimed another Keyhole. She and the others weren't doing enough, they needed to be moving faster. God, all those people...

"Why doesn't the Organization try to stop it?" she asked, abruptly breaking the silence.

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Stop what?"

"The city's heart from being taken by the Heartless? If they know it's going to happen, why don't they stop it?"

"...doesn't coincide with their interests," he replied after a pause, taking a pull from his mug.

She raised both eyebrows at that. "So… so they're going to let this city just vanish… let all these people die… just because it doesn't _coincide with their interests?_ " She took his lack of response as confirmation. "Organization XIII doesn't seem very nice."

"What ever gave you the idea that they were?"

"Well… you are."

He blinked at that. Then gave a small, dry smile. "Heh. Me? Nice? If only you knew, Snowflake."

"Knew what?"

He waved it off. "Forget it. In any case, I'm not with the Organization anymore, remember?"

"True," she murmured. Resting her arms on the bar, she hunched forward and used them to cushion her head, face turned towards Axel. "Why did you join them in the first place? Why decide to become a Nobody?"

Axel gave a tired chuckle. "Another Nobody question? What's with the third degree? Honestly, being a Nobody isn't that exciting."

A half smirk upturned one corner of Elsa's mouth. "Given that you can't feel excitement, forgive me if I take that with a grain of salt."

"Got me there," he conceded.

It was silent for a few seconds before Elsa said, "Nevermind. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"Nah, it's cool." His finger traced around the rim of his mug slowly, his eyes not really focused on anything. "My Somebody - that's what we call the people we were before becoming a Nobody - you recall that his mother died, right?"

She nodded, catching the use of the word 'his' instead of 'my.' Now wasn't the time to bring it up however, so she made a mental note to ask about it later.

"She was sick. Cancer. She had been battling it for years. She was in pain, but she never showed it. No, she was… light itself. Bubbling energy and pure joy incarnate. My Somebody... he loved her very much." He closed his eyes and gave a soft snort. "He was a total momma's boy. Pathetic, really.

"When she died, he was devastated. He was so lost, so… so completely and utterly crushed. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. He felt like he had been flayed alive and left to rot. He moved through his life like a zombie, time lost all meaning to him. The pain just seemed like it would last forever.

"But then, one day, one of his friends - actually, his best friend - told him he could help. That he could make it all go away. All the misery, the suffering... just gone." Axel shook his head. "Seemed like a load of crap. But he didn't have anything to lose by trying.

"So he let his friend take him to this big, fancy ass building. They rode the elevator up several floors, then they were led to this empty room. And I mean, literally, there was nothing in it. Nothing to see besides the bland, off white walls." He scratched his temple as he muttered, "Or maybe they were more of an egg white? Bah, in any case, his friend left him alone in that room, saying he'd be right back. Several minutes passed where nothing happened. And then, everything just went dark.

"That was the end of my Somebody, and the birth of the Nobody. Me. When I came to, I felt nothing. Completely empty inside. No sadness or pain or anything. I was free. My friend was waiting for me when I woke up, along with a couple other people. Other members. They told me about the Organization and what had happened to me, and then I was initiated. And that was that."

Elsa raised her head as she stared at him, eyebrows furrowed, not saying anything at first. "Just like that? You didn't get a choice or any say in the matter, they just went ahead and did it? That doesn't seem fair, you didn't even know what was happening to you…"

"I was told enough," he stated, his tone impassive. "That my sorrow would be taken away, and I agreed to that. I can't complain… I got exactly what I wanted."

She pursed her lips. "... and this… _friend_ ," she was using the term loosely, "he was a Nobody too?"

"Yup."

"How'd it happen to him?"

"Don't know," he said, sipping his drink. "Never asked. Didn't seem important."

"How could it not? I mean, if his story… or if any of the other members' stories were anything like yours, it seems like Organization XIII just goes around recruiting troubled and depressed teenagers. It sounds like a cult. You never thought to question that?"

Running his fingers through his hair, he mumbled, "Well, when you put it that way… I mean, they always seemed a bit sketchy. But hey. Nobody," he jerked a thumb at himself. "So didn't really care."

She released a frustrated sigh. "...what about your father? Did he notice when you… changed?"

"Pffft. Right. He took his wife's death hard and buried himself in his work. I saw him less and less as he spent more and more time at his office. And when he was around, he never said anything to me or even looked at me. It's like I don't even exist in my own home." His lip twitched as he added, "Which is technically true I guess, being what I am." Elbow against the bar, he propped his chin on his knuckles. "We've been gone, what, three days now? Jerk probably hasn't even noticed that I've up and disappeared."

Her eyebrows slanted, forming a peak. "That's… actually really sad. Not just your dad, but all of it. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. I'm not. One of the many advantages of being a Nobody," he sighed, almost sounding content. "Though, to be fair, it's not without its drawbacks. Like not being able to get drunk."

She blinked. _That_ she was not expecting. She looked from him to his mug, then back again. Uncertain, she asked, "You can't?"

"Nope. Getting drunk basically has to do with large amounts of alcohol entering the bloodstream too quickly. But, ya know," he pointed at the injury on his leg, "no blood. Whatever this black goop in my veins is, it seems to be able to hold its liquor just fine."

"...but then, why do you drink?"

"Dunno really. Habit? Nostalgia?" He held up the glass and tilted it slightly from one side to the other, churning its contents. "My Somebody loved this Fireball crap... what about you?"

She was taken aback by the random question. "Me?"

His head tipped slightly to the left. "Do you have a favorite drink?"

"Oh. Oh, no. I've never-"

"Heh. You're such a goody two-shoes."

"That'd be illegal," she insisted as she eyed the bartender. He was back to paging through his magazine, oblivious to the rest of the world. Still, she lowered her voice as she added, "I'm underage. You are too."

He clapped a hand to his cheek. "What? No! Seriously?" he asked, mockingly aghast. She gave his shoulder a shove and he laughed. "Want to try some of mine?"

"What? I don't think that-"

"Come on, loosen up. Live a little," he coaxed in a low voice, offering her his glass. It smelled like cinnamon. "Let me live vicariously."

She hesitated. For a moment, Elsa was truly considering it. After all, it would only be a sip. What could be the harm? But then she thought better of it and gently pushed it back towards him. "Maybe we should get going," was her only comment.

He frowned, then shrugged. "You're probably right." In one smooth motion, he downed the rest of his beverage, leaving his mug dry. He then threw some munny on the counter for the barkeep, spun in his stool, and stood up. "Alright, daylight's burning," he said as he moved towards the door and held it open for her. "That Keyhole isn't gonna find itself. Get a move on, ya lush."

"Me?" she snorted as she got up and walked through the exit. "The lush?"

"Yeah, you. You have a real problem, you know. Ever considered AA?" He followed her out, the door clicking shut behind him.

* * *

_**Author's Note:** I really love how this chapter turned out. Just a lot of a lil details coming together - the hint of Axel's and Larxene's history, the stories on the news, more of Axel's backstory, plus some more info about Nobodies in this AU, about their "blood" and their nostalgic habits xD I dunno, I just feel that overall, this came out really nice, and was a pleasant break from the action._

_But you know who we haven't seen in a while? Punzie! And Flynn! And a couple of twins up to no good xD Next chapter, we shift back to see what all those wily troublemakers are up to!_

_Special thanks and much love to everyone who has shown support this quirky little story! Thank you all for reading, hoped you liked it, please leave a comment and let me know what you think! Until next time, hope you all have a wonderful week! :)_


	10. Chapter 10

It felt like it took an eternity for the elevator to reach the top floor. When it did, Josef muttered, "Finally." Then he blinked in surprise when it continued to rise further. Apparently, this building had more floors than the ninety buttons in the elevator would have you believe.

When it at last came to a stop on the ninety-first (or was it the ninety-second?) floor and the doors slid open, Flynn was the first one to step out. Josef followed closely behind with Jakob bringing up the rear. Taking in the quiet hallway with its polished, reflective floor and pedestals lining the walls bearing busts and small statues, Jakob asked, "So you just need us to carry some stuff for you?"

"Yup," Flynn said as he strolled leisurely along, leading them past several finely detailed wood carved doors. "It's like I said: easy munny."

Josef's face pinched. "If it's so easy, why can't you handle it by yourself?"

"Simple. Too much for one man to carry. I suppose I could make multiple trips, but really, would _you_ want to take that long elevator ride up and down that many times?" Flynn glanced at them over his shoulder, but the brothers remained silent. "I didn't think so."

He came to a stop in front of one of the doors, which was just as fancy as the others they had passed and had no number or anything else to differentiate it from the rest of the doors. Flynn fished out of his pocket a pair of black gloves that he began to slip on.

Josef eyed him warily. "What are those for?"

"Hm? Oh, these?" Flynn asked absently, waggling his gloved fingers. "Nothing. I'm just a bit of a hypochondriac. Germs, ya know? Don't worry about it." Next he pulled out a blank white card. To the right of the door was a slot that he inserted the card into. It beeped and beneath it, a numbered keypad popped out. He tapped in ten digits, and once again it beeped before a click emitted from the door. Placing his hand on the door and giving it a light push, it swung open without the slightest resistance. With a pleased little smirk, he turned back to them as he made a sweeping gesture with his hand towards the opening. "After you."

They hesitated for a beat, then Jakob entered first, his brother following behind.

The room they entered had lush, expensive-looking carpets and a modest chandelier hanging from the ceiling - if any chandelier could truly be considered modest. A chair and table sat in the center of the room, both made of dark wood with elegant, intricate carvings that matched, making them a set. A large dragon statue stood proudly in one corner, a good few feet taller than the twins, a mixture of beauty and ferocity etched into its design. Many extravagant paintings decorated the room. The wall directly across from the door they had entered through was filled with a grid of drawers. It was tall enough that a ladder was provided to reach the top row.

To their right was a floor-to-ceiling window, lined with heavy silk curtains. The middle of the window was actually a set of glass double doors, leading out to a large balcony that overlooked the city. The sun was setting, bathing the buildings in rich pinks and purples of the evening. Every few seconds, the silence would be disrupted as a soft, long beep issued from somewhere within the room.

Jakob let loose a low whistle as Flynn entered the room, taking up the spot between the brothers. "You own this stuff?"

The man chuckled. "What? Oh, no. This all belongs to my… my client. I'm just here to do a job."

"And what exactly is your job?" Josef asked with a frown.

"I'm a procurer and transporter of priceless artifacts." They gave him a blank stare, and he sighed. "See, it's like this. The wealthy, they like things. Expensive things. And sometimes, those things need to be moved from point A to point B. That's where I come in. Rich folks tend to get paranoid about their things, so I like to put minds at ease, knowing their precious valuables are being kept safe in my very capable hands."

"Woah!" Jakob cried. It seemed he had lost interest in the conversation, as his face was currently pressed up against the window. "You can see for miles from here. This is like the tallest building in the city!"

"Not _like_ the tallest. This, in fact, _is_ the tallest building in the city. Followed closely by that one over there." Flynn pointed at another towering structure a couple blocks over, silhouetted against the dying sunlight. His eyes then scanned the metropolis below and he gave a sigh of contentment. "I could get used to a view like this." A pause. "Yup, I'm used to it. Guys, I want a skyscraper."

Josef rolled his eyes. "Can we just get on with this already?"

With a shrug, Flynn muttered, "Fine, fine." He then opened a satchel he had hung over his shoulder and pulled out two more just like it, tossing one to each of the twins. "Your jobs are simple. Start filling these with whatever you find in those," he pointed to the wall of drawers.

The brothers looked at the bags they had been given before slowly approaching the indicated drawers. Josef hesitated before choosing a drawer at random and sliding it open. Contained within was a simple, black drawstring pouch. He took it out and heard its contents clatter. Curious, he pulled it open and gaped. Diamonds. Freaking _diamonds_. Tiny, but hundreds, maybe thousands, of them.

He pulled the pouch shut again and eyed Flynn. He was currently beside another open drawer, removing from it a… was that a _crown_? Yes, indeed it was, a gold crown encrusted with rubies, pearls, and diamonds large enough to put the ones in the pouch to shame.

Josef gulped and shook himself. "Are you sure Jake and I should be handling stuff like this?"

Mesmerized by the crown in his hands, Flynn gave an absent-minded "Hm?" He then blinked and broke out of his trance. Placing the crown gingerly in his satchel, he responded, "Oh yes, absolutely. Please, I encourage it. I trust you boys to handle these items with the utmost care."

"I dunno… this all just seems-"

"Hey, Joe. Lookit." Josef turned at the sound of his brother's voice. Several drawers lay open in front of Jakob, and he was now adorned with many rings, bracelets, and necklaces of sapphires, emeralds, amethysts, and other gems. Atop his head was a silver tiara decorated with diamonds and opals. Jakob flashed a coy grin. "I'm a princess. Teehee."

"You look absolutely stunning," Flynn cooed with a laugh.

Josef opened his mouth, but found no words. So instead he snapped it shut, closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. The silence was pierced by another soft beep. "By the way, what the hell is that noise?"

Flynn cocked an eyebrow and listened until it beeped again. He waved a hand dismissively and chuckled, "Oh, that. It's nothing really. Just the alarm going off."

His eyes widened. "Alarm? For what?"

"For bringing the police, silly. What else would it be for?"

"The _police_?" he choked out. "Why would they come here?"

"Because we're stealing, which is all kinds of illegal."

"Stealing?! But what about all that stuff you said before? I thought you said you were hired to-"

"All I said was that rich people have things, and that I'm someone who moves those things," Flynn interjected as he crossed the room. "I never said I was _hired_ by anyone to move them. I just sort of take the initiative, and the police don't like it when I do that." He checked his watch. "Speaking of, they should be here any-"

A loud bang shook the door they had entered through. "This is the police! We know you're in there!" A gruff voice yelled from the other side. "Come out with your hands up!"

"Ah, right on time. That's my cue." Flynn pushed open the glass doors leading out onto the balcony.

"Wait!" Josef cried, hastily dropping the bag of diamonds back into their compartment. He scowled at his brother, who stood dumbfounded, still resplendent in all his bejeweled finery. "Take those off, you look like a moron," he growled, shouldering past him as he jogged to catch up to Flynn. Night had fallen outside, so the balcony was dark except for a single light source on the wall next to the door. "But you said the guy who owned all this stuff was your client."

"Client, victim… it's all the same really," he smirked, remarkably unconcerned by the predicament they were now in. He reached into his satchel and pulled out what looked to be a large tube with a handle in the middle and grappling hooks sticking out of either end. Unraveling one of the hooks, he latched it onto the wall lamp.

More thunderous banging could be heard from within the room. "You have until the count of ten to surrender yourselves, then we're breaking down the door!" the same voice from earlier bellowed.

Flynn aimed the tube and second hook at a building across the way. It was in fact the building he had pointed out earlier as the second tallest in the city. Pulling a trigger within the handle, he launched the remaining hook off and it propelled in a blur through the night air. It connected with something on the other skyscraper and the line pulled taut, forming a link between the two buildings.

Jakob, now sans jewelry, came running out to join them. Sweating and eyes shifting, he glimpsed the grappling hook line over their heads and asked, "Is that how we're escaping?"

"Not _we_ , boys," Flynn murmured as he gave the rope a tug to test its stability. It held fast. He stepped up onto the railing that closed the balcony in. "Just me. See ya!" He grabbed onto the handle of the tube with one hand and with the other, saluted the twins and gave them a wink. He then stepped off the ledge and the cylinder zipped him down the line to the other building.

"No!" Josef called, whipping a hand out to grab at Flynn, but the thief was already well out of reach. He hissed through his teeth as he watched Flynn's form vanish into the night. A boom followed by another erupted from the room behind them - the door was not going to hold for much longer. He looked up at the rope. "Grab onto the line! We're getting out of here!"

"But we don't have a way to zoom across like he did! We'd have to cross hand over hand, which will take forever!"

"Then you better get a move on. The sooner you start, the sooner it'll be over with." He shoved his brother up onto the rail.

Jakob flailed his arms wildly about before latching them onto the rope. He then looked over the edge, gulped, and shrunk back a little. "That's a long way down."

"Shut up and go already!" A shattering crash tore through the air. The cops had busted through the door and the twins were out of time. Josef snapped, "Go, go, go!"

A sudden click caught their attention and they looked over their shoulders. The grappling hook had dislodged itself from the lamp. The line was now recoiling speedily, dragging the hook off the balcony and towards the other building. The rope practically burned Jakob's hands as it slipped through them and he let go of it with a yelp. As the hook went over the railing, it clipped Jakob's leg before going over the edge and disappearing into the night.

Jakob wobbled as he tried to maintain his balance. Just when he looked like he was about to plummet into the abyss, Josef frantically wrapped his arms around his brother's legs and pulled him back towards safety. The twins collapsed into a heap on the tiled floor of the balcony.

With winces and groans, they disentangled themselves from each other and shakily began to get up.

"Freeze, dirtbags!"

Their heads shot up to find themselves surrounded by at least a dozen very angry looking cops. And each of those very angry looking cops held a very big, very menacing gun in their hands. And each of those very big, very menacing guns were trained directly on the Stabbington Brothers.

Jakob promptly fainted.

* * *

"...talk about it later…you _bet_ we'll talk about it."

Rapunzel paced back and forth next to her bed, angrily muttering to herself. She had been doing so for hours now. She hadn't even tried to read or watch tv or paint or any of the million other things her mother had stuffed into her gilded cage in a vain attempt to distract her from the outside world. She had been too furious.

Abruptly, she came to a stop and peered through the near-darkness of her room at her wardrobe, chair still lodged in place and keeping it locked up tight. "Well, Mother… it'll be a lot harder for you to argue with me when I open those doors and that thing comes leaping out at you." She laughed smugly, then started pacing again, anxious for her mother's return.

Another minute passed before she was struck by a realization. She came to a second halt, turning to stare at the wardrobe once more. It had been completely still since she had trapped the creature inside it. The thing was probably just still knocked out, right? It had to be, that would make the most sense, wouldn't it? There was no way that it could have slipped out, not without her having seen it, that would just be impossible.

That is...unless it had, somehow. She began to chew on a few strands of her hair. Boy, it would look real silly if she swung those doors open later to reveal to her mother nothing but a rack of clothes. She had better make sure.

Flipping on a nearby wall switch, the room filled with a warm glow from the faery lights overhead, banishing the gloom of early nightfall. She then began to slowly approach the armoire. "Mr. Pyjama Monster?" she whispered. Silence answered her as she closed the distance. "Hello?"

She pressed an ear to the wooden door and very lightly rapped a knuckle against it. "Are you still in there?" She heard nothing from inside. Swallowing hard, she took a deep breath to steady herself and reached for the chair.

There was a sudden loud crash that nearly gave her a heart attack.

Eyes practically popping out of her head, she spun around and looked towards the window that led out onto the balcony, where the noise had come from.

What was _that?_ It had sounded like a tree had exploded!

She looked out through the glass, but it was too dark outside now to see anything properly from here. She'd have to investigate. Picking up her pan from where she had left it on the vanity, she left the safety of her condo and snuck silently out into her balcony garden.

She crept from one rose bush to another, keeping a vigilant eye out as she moved. Where was it? Where was the thing that had made that noise? And more importantly, what was it? Was it another pyjama monster? More than one… could it be an infestation? She idly wondered if there was a fumigation treatment that could deal with that.

Rapunzel came to an abrupt halt when a thick hedge she had been passing suddenly quivered. Then on the other side of it, something fell with a _thud!_ That something grunted. Using the giant pot that the hedge was rooted in as cover, she squinted as she peeked between the leaves. All she could make out was a dark figure that was moving.

"Seriously?" she heard a voice grumble. "What kind of tree-hugging commune keeps a whole frigging forest on the rooftop of a skyscraper?"

So, this pyjama monster could talk! Maybe this one was special? Or could all pyjama monsters speak? If so, why hadn't the first one said anything to her? She had certainly given it enough chances. Unless… maybe it had been a mute and had lost its ability to speak?

Poor pyjama monster…

But she did not have time to worry about that right now! She heard footsteps on the other side of the hedge, and they sounded like they were coming towards her. Holding her skillet in clenched fists, she crouched low. Muscles tensed and eyes squeezed shut, she held her breath.

"Now, how the heck do I get out of-"

_CLANG!_

She had sprung from her hiding spot, swinging wildly and blindly, and apparently had found her mark. She heard her victim fall like a sack of potatoes. She hesitated before reluctantly opening one eye as she looked down. The other snapped open and she blinked a couple times. Lying unconscious at her feet was definitely no pyjama monster.

It… was a person!

A man, in fact, by the look of it. He had a lean, muscled build. His brown hair looked soft and was just long enough to cascade over his closed eyes. He had a small, scruffy goatee on his chin. He was… kind of pretty… in a Colin O'Donoghue sort of way...

Wait a minute… that was not the thing to be thinking about right now!

"What is up with today?!" Rapunzel shouted up at the night sky. "First the pyjama monster, now this guy! What next, a _dragon?_ "

A brief pause.

"...actually… a dragon would be kind of cool…"

Focus, Rapunzel, focus!

Okay, this was getting pretty serious. Maybe it was time to call in Pascal. But then… that would be kind of like admitting that Mother was right and she couldn't take care of herself, wouldn't it? No, she wasn't ready to throw in the towel just yet.

Looking back down at the man, she wondered who he was and how he had gotten onto her terrace. More importantly, what did he want? Did he know what her hair could do? Was he planning on kidnapping her? Was he working with the pyjama monster? Shifting her gaze, she spotted a bag next to him. He had probably brought it with him. Maybe it contained a clue as to his intentions or identity? It lay partially open, and from within it, something was glinting. Intrigued, she bent over and reached into the bag, pulling the item out.

"Okay… this is just getting weirder and weirder by the second," she muttered, eyeing the crown she now held in her hands. Why did he have this? Was he some sort of prince?

_...prince of the pyjama monsters…_

Alright, that sounded ludicrous, even to her. Returning the crown to where she had found it, she regarded the unconscious man. She needed answers, and he was the best way to get them. But first, she was going to have to detain him. Her wardrobe was already occupied, so she'd have to go with the only other logical solution.

She'd have to tie him up with her hair.

* * *

_**Author's Note:** Poor Stabbington brothers xD Yah, they're kind of douche nozzles that had it coming, but they got played so hard by Flynn and did not have the slightest clue until it was far too late. And Punzie now has one Flynn Rider in her care - the Tangled story can really start to unfold!_

_Special thanks and much love to everyone who has shown support this quirky little story! Thank you all for reading, hoped you liked it, please leave a comment and let me know what you think! Until next week, ciao!_


	11. Chapter 11

First thing Flynn felt was a massive throbbing headache. He groaned, shaking his head and struggling to open his eyes. Second thing he felt was that he was sitting in a chair. No, sitting wasn't entirely accurate… more like _strapped_ into it. He couldn't move anything except for his fingers and his head. Whatever he was tied down with felt…

...silky smooth?

Was he in the middle of getting lucky?

No, he was sure he would have remembered that. Unless he had gotten _really_ drunk. That would explain the headache then, or hangover rather. Must have been some party!

But no, that wasn't it. It was slowly coming back to him… Corona… those twin buffoons… skyscraper… the crown… trees, _way_ too many trees-

Wait, go back! The crown!

His eyes finally snapped open, searching for his satchel. It was nowhere to be seen. Then again, it was hard to see much of anything. He was in some room that was rather dark, only somewhat dimly lit by what seemed to be faery lights overhead. He could see a table over there, the back of a couch in another direction, and in one corner was what looked to be a bed. And a somewhat feminine looking bed at that, if the canopy and stuffed animals were any indication.

Was he in a girl's bedroom?

...maybe he _had_ been getting lucky.

Looking down at himself, he found that he had been practically cocooned to his chair by golden material that seemed to be comprised of thousands of thin strands. The stuff trailed out from him and seemed to be everywhere, zigzagging across the floor and coiling up and around furniture. There was so much of it.

He squinted.

...wait… no… it couldn't be…

Was this… hair?

Something suddenly moved out in the shadows. He strained his eyes to make it out, but there just wasn't enough light. "Hello?" he called uncertainly. He cleared his throat. "Anyone there? I seem to be having a bit of a bad hair day here." _Ba-dum-tss!_ "So if you could help me out, I'd really appreciate it."

A bright light suddenly turned on a few feet away and beamed on him like a spotlight, practically blinding him. He winced. Okay, too much light now! Way, way too much! There was a person standing next to the brightness, but the way the light was angled, all he could see was a silhouette.

"Nice try, but...but trying to endear yourself to me won't work, captive!" the figure said. It was a female voice. It sounded stern, but also with a hint of… nervousness?

"Look," he began, "I wasn't trying to-"

"Silence! You're not allowed to talk unless I, uh... specifically say you can, got it?" she snapped, to which he dutifully kept his mouth shut. "Good! Now listen closely, prisoner, as y-your life depends on it! You have found your way into a… a highly secure… top secret facility! Yeah! So you're in trouble, mister. Big time!"

Okay, if he had stumbled into getting lucky, then this chick was into some intense roleplaying. That, or she was just plain nuts.

"Understandably, we have some questions for you. So choose your next words carefully, otherwise they may be your last. Who are you and how did you find me?" she asked, sounding more confident by the second. He gave no response. The silhouette began to pace slowly back and forth behind the light source. "Oh, a tough guy, huh? Giving me the silent treatment, eh? Well, we have ways of making you talk. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. So I'd reconsider if I were you, before I have to make you an offer you can't refuse."

What was this? It sounded like she was just tossing out every cliché from movie interrogation scenes that she could think of.

"Still nothing?" she pressed when he remained silent. She pushed the light source closer to his face, forcing him to look away. "You're making me angry. And you won't like me when I'm angry."

Okay, this was just silly now. Out of the corner of his mouth, he mumbled, "You told me not to talk unless you gave me permission... which you... haven't?"

"Oh, I haven't?" her voice momentarily dropped its edge, sounding genuinely concerned at her mishap. "Thanks! I mean- er, don't give me lip, buddy! I knew that! I was just… testing you! Yeah! Congratulations, you passed. So… _now_ you may speak. Who are you?"

"I-"

"How did you find me?"

"That is-"

"What are your plans for my hair?"

"If you'd just… wait, what?"

"You're plotting with the pyjama monster, aren't you?! Talk!"

"...pyjama monster?" It was official. This chick had a screw loose. "Okay, let's back up a bit to the part about your hair. What _plans_ do I have for it?" he asked incredulously. "What do I look like, a hairdresser? Should I be throwing terms at you like A-line bob, chignon, and perm? Oh, or hair extensions. Yeah, I think you could _really_ use some hair extensions. But wait! That's right, I'm _not_ a hairdresser and have absolutely zero plans for your hair."

The silhouette cocked its head to one side. There was a click and the light went out. Spots were the only things he could see at first. As they slowly began to fade, he heard her ask, "Wait… you don't want my hair?"

"Want?" He blinked a few times, trying to clear his vision. "Why on earth would I want your hair?"

"That information is, er… classified!"

"Ah. Of course it is," he mumbled.

"What about the pyjama monster? You're not in cahoots with it?"

"Kind of hard to be in cahoots with something when I have no idea what it is. Care to enlighten me?"

She took a second to respond. "...I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."

"Why am I not surprised?"

Finally able to see clearly, he took in his captor for the first time. Good grief, she was barely old enough vote, if that! She held a frying pan in one hand. Her jade eyes, clouded with confusion, studied him uncertainly, while her blonde hair trailed down her back and seemed to go on for miles. Literally. And yes, it was, in fact, her hair that she currently had him swathed in.

What kind of insane asylum had he wandered into?

Still, he had to admit for a mental patient, she was kind of cute, in a little puppy dog trying (and failing) to act like a big, vicious predator sort of way. And now that he knew what he was up against, he was at an advantage. Young, doe-eyed ladies like her were putty in his hands. It was time to turn on the charm.

"So then," she began slowly, narrowing her eyes at him, "I guess that brings us back to who are you and how did you find me?"

"Actually, I think the real question is, did it hurt?" A beat. "That is, when you fell from heaven?"

_Nailed it._

She raised an eyebrow and just continued to stare at him.

His voice like velvet, he went on, "And do you have a map? Because I keep getting lost in your eyes." Insert strategic eyebrow waggle.

"Um…" Her other eyebrow shot up to join the first. She now looked concerned. "...are you feeling okay? Did I hit you in the head a little too hard earlier?" She put three fingers in front of his face. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Oh yeah. She was swooning. Poor thing just didn't know it yet.

"Sweetcheeks, the only number I care about is yours."

She pursed her lips, then tugged at a few golden locks wrapped around his neck, scrutinizing them. "Are these too tight? I think I might have cut off the blood circulation to your brain."

Flynn smirked. Now she was loosening his bonds, practically incapable of keeping her hands off him. Oh yeah. He had her right where he wanted her. Time to bring it home. "So, Blondie- can I call you Blondie?"

She frowned at him. "My name is Rapunzel."

"...yeah, I can't say that. So, Blondie. Name's Flynn Rider, and here's the deal: I didn't so much find you as rather I crash-landed into your balcony. Could have been any balcony really, fate just so happened to pick yours. So as you can see, this is all really just one big misunderstanding. So if you could release me, I'd be eternally grateful." He flashed her his pearly whites.

Her head tilted to one side. "...what were you doing that had you crash-landing into arbitrary balconies?"

He laughed. "Blondie. Sweetie. I admire your moxie, but I'm gonna have to respectfully point out that would be none of your business."

She crossed her arms, tapping her frying pan against her elbow. "Really? You, the intruder, are telling me, the resident of the private property you are trespassing on, that the reason you're here, on said private property, is none of my business?"

Flynn opened his mouth, but no retort was forthcoming, so he promptly shut it once more. He then tried again. "Beauty and brains. I like that. In any case, let's just say I'm a window cleaner whose scaffolding had a malfunction and dropped me onto your terrace."

"Dropped? But this is the top floor."

"Did I say dropped? I meant flung. My scaffolding was spring-loaded."

She eyed him up and down. "You don't dress like most window cleaners."

"Most window cleaners don't get paid as well as I do."

"What about-"

"Listen, Blondie. As much as I'd love to sit around and chat with a lovely thing like yourself all night, I have some crucial window washing I should really be taking care of. So if you could just untie me and give me back my satchel, I'll be out of your hair and on my merry way."

"Satchel?" she asked. Then realization visibly dawned on her and she walked away briefly to retrieve something from a table. "You mean this purse?" she asked, holding up Flynn's bag.

His smile became ever so slightly strained. "Yup. Yup, that'd be it," he said through grit teeth. "Now be a doll, untie me and-"

"So this is your purse. And you want it back. And you're from outside…" she said distractedly, pressing the frying pan to her lower lip in thought.

"That pretty much sums it up, yup. So, if you would free me and-"

"Alright," she said suddenly, as if he hadn't been speaking.

"...alright?"

She nodded. "Alright. I'll free you, Flynn Rider. And I'll even return your purse to you."

Bam. Success! He knew she would be powerless to his will. Like a moth to the flame. It was practically unfair to her really. He almost felt guilty.

"...if…" she added.

His internal gloating ceased. _If?_ What was this if?

She continued in a lofty tone, "...if you accept the deal I'm prepared to offer you."

"Deal?"

"Tomorrow is the Starlight Festival that Corona celebrates every year. I need someone to go with me, and that someone will be you. You will act as my guide, take me to the festival, then bring me back here when it's over. Once I am safely home, you can have your purse back and you'll be free to go."

A slow grin curled his lips. "Wait," he said, stretching the word out. "Is this just your way of saying you want a date?"

She gave him a blank stare. "Um… no."

"Uh huh. Sure. If you say so," he chuckled. "Look, babycakes, date or no, I unfortunately just don't have the time to go traipsing off to some little fair. Got more important duties to uphold."

"Important?" Her eyelids drooped. "Like scrubbing windows?"

His right eye twitched. "Yeah. Like scrubbing windows."

"Let's get one thing straight, Flynn Rider," she said, regaining her steely demeanor and jabbing him in the nose with her skillet. "We both know you're no window washer. But I don't care who you really are and I don't care about the contents of your precious purse, just so long as you get me to the festival and then bring me back. Do we have a deal?"

"...and if I say no?" he asked, his voice sounding slightly nasally due to the skillet smooshed up against his snout.

She pointed at a door on the other side of the room. "Standing right outside is a very big, very scary bodyguard who could give a rapid gorilla on steroids a run for its munny. I could have him in here at the snap of a finger, and let's just say he wouldn't be too pleased to find you here."

"Are… are you _blackmailing_ me?" He couldn't believe his ears.

She pulled her pan back and drummed her fingers along it. "Blackmail is such an ugly word," she hummed.

"...Blondie, if you want me to take you seriously, you're really gonna need to quit it with all the movie tropes."

She looked mortified. "Were they that obvious?" she whimpered. Then she blinked and her face hardened into a look of authority. "I mean, quiet, you! Do you accept my very generous offer of a deal or not?"

This chick should never play poker. In any case, he wasn't tempted in the slightest to accept her offer. There was no way he about to waste time playing chaperone while she frolicked about some ridiculous fair. He had to split town with his ill-gotten gains and fast. "Alright, I didn't want to have to do this. But you leave me no choice…" It was time to haul out the big guns. His trump card: the look that made women go all weak in the knees and do whatever he asked. He hung his head down, mentally preparing himself. Then he looked up at her and gave her the full effect of… The Smolder.

Her brow furrowed. "What's wrong with your face?" Then she gave a soft gasp and whispered, "Oh, I'm sorry, do you need to use the bathroom?"

Flynn's shoulders slumped. "...no… no, I'm good, thanks." He was kind of having an off day. That, or this girl was immune to his masculine wiles. That'd be a first… unheard of, even! He sighed in defeat. "Fine, I'll take you to that carnival thing."

Her face lit up like fireworks. "You mean it?" At his nod, she held up her little finger near his hand. "Pinky swear?" Looking unamused, he somewhat awkwardly, given his restraints, hooked his pinky in hers to seal the solemn oath.

"Yes!" she whooped and began to prance around the room. She forgot that her new friend was still wrapped up in her tresses. Thus it was a surprise to them both when her hair snapped taut. The sharp tug to her scalp made her squeak and she almost fell backwards, but managed to catch herself. Flynn wasn't so lucky as the hair pulled his chair off its legs and toppled him over to faceplant into the floor with a painful thud.

"Oopsie," Rapunzel cringed in a tiny voice.

"If you would kindly separate me from the chair now," his muffled voice deadpanned into the rug, "that'd be swell."

* * *

_**Author's Note:** Oh gosh, these two are so fun and adorable to write xD Sorry for the lack of our other heroes this and last chapter. We'll get back to all of them and the main overarching plotline soon, but right now focusing on getting Punzie out into the world so she can start interacting with the rest of our ragtag team :3_

_Special thanks and much love to everyone who has shown support this quirky little story! Thank you all for reading, hoped you liked it, please leave a review and let me know what you think!_ _Be back for next week's update!_


	12. Chapter 12

The police officer sighed. "So let me just make sure I have your story straight. You don't know Flynn Rider."

"Not really, no." Josef said as he and Jakob shook their heads in unison. They were now being detained for questioning in the interrogation room at a police precinct they had been brought to.

"You'd never met Flynn Rider before today."

"Correct."

"You had no idea you were illegally trespassing into a secure, private facility."

"No idea."

"And you didn't know you were there to aid in the theft of property worth a sizable fortune."

"Nope."

The officer leaned back in his chair with a frown. "So... You two are either the biggest idiots in the world, or you think that I am."

Josef's mouth worked but no sounds came out. The cop continued, "Supposing what you're telling me is true. Why would Flynn Rider grab two strangers off the street and take them with him on a big heist? How much sense does that make?"

"Quite a lot of sense, actually."

The officer and the two teenagers shifted their attention towards the sound of the stern, unfamiliar voice. A new man had entered the room. He was broad shouldered and tall, emphasized by his perfect posture. He was about middle age, though he looked younger than his stark white hair would suggest. He wore a trench coat over his suit.

Miffed, the cop asked, "And you would be?"

"Detective Colt." From within his coat, he pulled out a gold badge and held it up.

The officer squinted at it, lips pressed into a thin line. Then both eyebrows shot up his forehead. "Detective _Maximus_ Colt?" The other man gave a curt nod. "What brings a big shot like you into our neck of the woods?"

"Rider," he said the name with a sour twist to his lips.

He crossed his arms. "Okay then… so enlighten us. Why would a master thief pick up a pair of chumps," here, Jakob made an offended outcry which the officer ignored, "and bring them with him on a major job?"

"It's simple: scapegoats. Rider wore gloves. There are fingerprints all over the crime scene, but they all belong to the chumps. Then there is the security footage. We just finished reviewing it and you never see Rider's face. He always positions one of the chumps between him and a camera. The few times he doesn't, all you get is the back of his head. Then when he makes his escape, he abandons the chumps-"

"Do you seriously have to keep calling us that?" Josef asked.

"...he abandons the _chumps_ ," he bit out, narrowing his eyes, "for Corona's Finest to catch. Now we obviously know there was a third guy besides these two, but we have no clue what his face looks like and no other physical evidence to track him down and link him to the crime. So what seems to be the more attractive option here: to admit that the chumps are nothing more than chumps and the real culprit slipped through our fingers, or to pin everything on the chumps that Rider all but gift wrapped for us?"

The officer glared up at the detective and was quiet for a moment. Finally, and with obvious reluctance, he said, "Fine. Supposing there's the remotest possibility that you're right. How do you suggest we proceed?"

"Give me the room."

The cop just stared at him in silence, looking like he had just sucked on a lemon. Eventually, his chair rattled as he slid it back and stood up. He walked passed Colt and passed the mirrored glass on the wall. He left the interrogation room, closing the door behind him.

The detective took a seat across from the twins. "Now listen, boys. Just because you weren't the masterminds behind all this, doesn't mean you're off the hook. Ignorance is no excuse. You were still trespassing where you didn't belong, handling delicate, priceless stuff you shouldn't have been-"

"We touched nothing!" Josef argued stubbornly.

Colt fixed him with a hard stare for a few seconds, then reached into his coat. He pulled out a large black-and-white photo and slapped it on the table. It was a still taken from the security footage and though it was slightly blurry, it depicted clearly enough one of the twins at the crime scene, regally decked out in bracelets, necklaces, and a tiara. "So this isn't you?"

Josef stewed in silence as he eyed the photo, then grumbled, "I can actually say with all honesty that that isn't me."

A nervous laugh bubbled up from Jakob beside him. "That would be me."

"My mistake," Detective Colt deadpanned. "The point is, while I'm willing to believe your story, that doesn't mean you get off scot free. There will be consequences. I can help ease those for you, but I'm going to need you two to help me with a couple things first."

While Josef narrowed his eyes dubiously, Jakob asked, "Like what?"

"Well, for starters, we'll want you to describe Rider to a sketch artist so we finally have some idea what this guy looks like."

"Hang on a sec," Josef said. "You're making this guy sound like some big deal. How is it you don't even know what he looks like?"

"Cuz he's real good at making sure nothing and no one catches his face. This is the first time he's ever worked with someone that we know of, so it'll be good to finally put a face to the name."

"Okay… what else did you want?"

"Specifics," the detective stated. "Particularly on Rider's escape."

Josef let loose an annoyed huff. "We already told the other guy everything we know. He had this hook-gun thingie, he shot it at some far away building, then he disappeared into the night."

"But what building?"

"How should I know, it was dark!"

He frowned. "You have to remember something. At least a direction."

They shook their heads, but Jakob suddenly stopped and blinked a couple times. "Wait. There was something... he said we were in the largest building in Corona. And he pointed out the second largest one, which we could see through the window."

"And that's where he went?"

"...yeah, I think so."

Rubbing a finger against his chin, Colt muttered, "It's a start." He abruptly rose to his feet and turned to leave.

"Hang on, what about us?" Jakob called after him.

"Get with the sketch artist, then we'll talk. I'll be out for a bit, so we'll pick this up when I return." The door slammed behind him as he left.

* * *

"You ready yet, Blondie?" Flynn asked impatiently as he leaned a shoulder against the wall, arms folded across his chest.

"Almost," Rapunzel said as she put her pen down. She reviewed the note she had just written with a critical eye. Deciding that it met her approval, she signed it and hung it on the fridge under a Groot magnet, where she was sure her mother would see it. Then she jogged over to her backpack that she had been hastily packing with everything she thought she might need for her trip. It was a rich green and embellished with a golden symbol of three triangles arranged to form a larger triangle. She tapped her chin thoughtfully as she looked around, then stuffed a few last minute items into the all but bursting pack.

Watching her lazily, he said, "I still don't get it. The festival isn't until tomorrow, right? So why do we have to leave right now? Why not sleep in your own bed tonight, then leave in the morning? What's the big hurry?"

She zipped up her backpack and threw it over her shoulder, stumbling slightly under its weight. "The big hurry," she grunted, "is that we need to be outta here before Mother gets home."

"Oh." He pursed his lips. "Should I even bother asking?"

"No, you really shouldn't."

"Got it. I'm guessing that's also why we're leaving through the balcony instead of using the front door," he jerked a thumb towards it.

"That… plus remember that bodyguard I mentioned earlier? He's two hundred and fifty pounds of pure muscle." Again, she had never seen Pascal before, so she had no idea if that was true and it was purely an educated guess. It sure sounded good though! She made a show of sizing Flynn up and then added for good measure, "He'd squash you like a bug."

"Right… yeah, I think I'll take my chances with the thousand foot drop of certain death out there. Liking my odds there better."

She snorted. "Smart choice." She then began to walk towards the door leading out to the balcony.

Flynn's arm shot out in front of her and blocked her path. "Hold it, Blondie. Where's my satchel?"

Reaching behind her to pat the side of her backpack, she said, "In here with everything else. Don't worry, it'll be safe and sound until I return it to you… _after_ the festival. And don't you go getting any ideas about trying to steal it before then." She put a hand to her skillet, which hung at her hip. "Otherwise, Old Faithful here might have something to say about it."

His eyelids drooped and his lips pressed into a flat line. "Old Faithful? Seriously?"

She smirked and puffed up her chest. "Yes, seriously. It hasn't failed me yet, has it?"

"Whatever," he shrugged as he turned and exited out onto the balcony.

She began to follow him, but hesitated at the door. Was this really a good idea? Or was she just being impulsive and letting her restlessness cloud her better judgement? Originally, she had planned to show her mother the creature in the closet to prove to her that she wasn't defenseless and was ready to venture out into the world. And maybe… if she had played her cards right, just maybe she would have been able to convince her.

Then this Flynn Rider character had shown up. True, she had dispatched him just as easily as she had her first attacker - _more_ easily in fact, one might argue. However, this complicated matters. One intruder was an anomaly… but two? On the same exact day, within a few hours of each other no less? That might freak her mom out, get her thinking that Rapunzel's secret hideout was not so secret anymore. Then she might think someone might actually be out to get her daughter. And that would mean moving Rapunzel somewhere new, somewhere more secure, more secluded… more alone. Then she'd lock her up, throw away the key, and Rapunzel could kiss goodbye any dreams she ever had of going to the Starlight Festival.

So Rapunzel had come to the decision that if she was ever going to be free of her cage, she'd have to take matters into her own hands. She had been planning to go by herself, but then while interrogating Flynn, inspiration had struck: why go it alone when she had a perfectly capable guide right in front of her? While she was eager to escape her confinement, the idea of being alone out in the big, wide, unknown world was mildly intimidating. It would be much better to have someone there to watch her back and make sure she didn't lose her way.

Of course, there was the fact that that person was a complete stranger. A stranger that had broken into her home. A stranger she had cracked over the head with her frying pan. A stranger who had only agreed to help her because she had coerced him against his will by taking something that belonged to him that he wanted back.

Yup. Nothing could possibly go wrong with this plan. It was foolproof.

She glanced out of the corner of her eye at her wardrobe. There still hadn't been any sound or movement from it, not since she had trapped that thing in there. Now wasn't exactly the time to investigate it, but damned if she wasn't curious. What was going on in there? Why was it being so quiet? Not knowing, not being able to see inside was driving her crazy. Was it still in there? Was it just unconscious? Was it alive? Dead? ...both?

_...Schrodinger's pyjama monster..._

"You coming, Blondie?" Flynn called from outside, breaking her out of her musings.

She blinked and shook her head. "Yeah, right behind you." She spared the closet one last glance before trotting outside. It would just have to wait until she got back.

As she stepped out into the night air, she saw him standing next to the wall lining the terrace, looking over the edge. He didn't look up when she moved to stand beside him. Instead, he pointed down the side of the building. "There," he said. "About ten stories down. See that bit jutting out? Looks like it's another balcony. If we reach that, then we should be able to break into that floor and use the elevator to get to the lobby."

She squinted at the spot he indicated, then looked back at him. "What if there are people on that floor?"

Without missing a beat, he deadpanned, "Then their blood is on your hands."

Her eyes went wide as she stared at him. Then she laughed nervously, "You're joking... r-right?"

He flashed her a bright smile. "Guess we'll see." That didn't reassure her, and it must have shown on her face, for he added, "If you're having second thoughts, now's the time to speak up. I'll understand. Everyone has their limits. Some people are just not cut out for stuff like this."

She narrowed her eyes at him. Was he challenging her? With a harrumph, she straightened her shoulders and marched over to the largest tree in her terrace garden. Reeling in her hair by the handfuls, she asked, "You said that balcony was about ten stories down?"

"Yup."

Nodding, she continued to gather her hair, pooling it at her feet. She scrutinized it, seeming to carefully measure it with her eyes. When she appeared to be satisfied with the amount she had collected, she wrapped some of it around the trunk of the tree and tied it into a knot.

"Uh… what are you doing?" he asked, crooking an eyebrow.

Instead of saying anything, she just gave him a cocky smirk and a two finger salute. She then looped some of her hair tightly around her hands, taking a firm hold of it. Then without any warning, she took off running, charging straight for the edge of the terrace.

"What the-?!" she heard him yelp. A split second later, she could hear the sound of his pounding footsteps chasing after her. That only spurred her to run faster. The wall was coming up quick in front of her. "Blondie, _no!_ " Too late. She leapt up onto the bench, using her momentum to carry her onto the ledge before launching herself forward. Then there was nothing but air beneath her feet.

On second thought, perhaps this wasn't such a brilliant idea. Ah well. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, right?

She probably should have been scared, but she wasn't. Instead, every detail fascinated her. The air whistled in her ears as she fell. The streets below were beautiful with their colorful, glowing dots from lamps and cars. The building - her building - was a glossy blur beside her, all except for her own reflection in the windows as it followed down beside her.

Her hair suddenly pulled taught. She let loose a soft hiss as the locks that were wrapped around her fingers tightened painfully. She was no longer in a downward plummet, now instead swinging swiftly towards the building. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for impact with the wall.

But it never came.

Her movement shifted into a wide curve upward, rapidly slowing her down. It hit a pinnacle, stopped, then swung her back in the direction she had come from. She hesitantly opened her eyes as she swayed back and forth like a pendulum. She discovered that she was now hanging just a couple feet over the balcony that Flynn had indicated. Apparently, her calculations for how much hair she should use to reach it had been spot on.

Yay, math!

Disentangling her hands from her hair, her feet landed softly on the floor. Her fingers had throbbing red marks on them from where strands of her hair had dug in. Oh well, was better than not using her hands and instead having her scalp bear the brunt of the fall. Probably would have snapped her neck that way. She flicked her hands a couple times, trying to urge blood flow back into them, then looked up with a sly grin.

_Alright, Flynn Rider. Your move._

A few seconds passed where nothing happened. Then a rope abruptly came dangling down from up above, the end of it weighted with a grappling hook that hit the ground next to Rapunzel with a sharp _clang_. Another brief pause, then Flynn appeared as well, holding onto a tube that was sliding down the cord at a controlled speed. He planted his feet on balcony floor.

"You know," he said, "you could have waited and used this silly little thing I have called a rope."

She smugly lifted her chin at him. "My way was faster."

"Not to mention more suicidal," he muttered. "Plus, you seem to have a bit of a situation here," he pointed at her hair trailing up the side of the building where they had come from. "How do you plan to untie it at the top? It's not as if you could..." he pressed something on his metal canister and with a _woosh_ , it reeled in the ropes, pulling in the hooks from above and below and snapping them into place on both ends.

"Push a button," he finished with a smirk, slinging the grappling hook device over his shoulder.

Unfazed, she casually wrapped her fingers around her hanging hair and gave it two swift tugs. Then it all came falling down and collapsed into a flaxen pile at their feet. She dusted her palms against each other and walked away, leaving behind a gaping Flynn.

"How…?" he began. "Just… how?"

Rapunzel glanced at him over her shoulder, and shrugged with a smile. "Skills."

She reached for the door that led inside the building and opened it upon finding it unlocked, Flynn jogging to catch up behind her. The floor they entered was empty. And it wasn't just that no one else was around - it was _empty_. There was no furniture, decorations, or anything else. Nothing but dusty carpets and bare walls.

"Huh. Strange. Wonder why the place is vacant," she heard Flynn say.

"It is kind of eerie," Rapunzel replied. She was not certain, but she had an inkling as to why this place was deserted. Her mother was paranoid about keeping her safe and hidden away from the rest of society. So it would not surprise her at all if her mother had rented out several floors beneath Rapunzel's home just so they would never have any curious neighbors to worry about. She kept her suspicions to herself however. This stranger did not need to know how psychotically overprotective her mother could be and the extremes she was willing to go to.

They located an elevator and once it arrived, they got inside. Rapunzel then spent about a ninety seconds gathering all her hair into the lift with them. Luckily, it was a rather large compartment so once done, the accumulated hair only came up to Flynn's thighs. Pressing the button for the lobby, the doors slid shut and the elevator began its silent descent.

* * *

_**AN:** Another new chapter, another new character! I'm sure we all know who Detective Colt is based on - if it's totally lost on you, his first name should be a dead give away xP And the more I write the twins, the more fun I have with them. I make them a bit sillier than they were in the movie, and I'm okay with that - I'm pretty damn happy with it actually xD And OMG, Punzie and Flynn are almost out in the world! FINALLY! Next chapter will have a lil bit more with that pair, BUT ALSO we will be peeking back in on our other heroes! And don't worry, Pascal hasn't been forgot! He has a role to play in all of this too! As does our lil "pyjama monster" friend ^^_

_Special thanks and much love to everyone who has shown support this quirky little story! Thank you all for reading, hoped you liked it, please leave a comment and let me know what you think! Until next time, hope you all have an astounding week! :D_


	13. Chapter 13

Breathing out a sigh through his nose, Flynn watched the numbers above the elevator door leisurely count down. He needed to come up with a way out of this. Nothing against the blonde little nutjob, but he simply did not have the time to be babysitting her. He needed to get the crown, ditch the girl, and get the hell out of Dodge.

But how? She had already proved to be insusceptible to his charms, much as he loathed to admit it. And trying to scare her out of it seemed unlikely. The girl was fearless, if her little hair-bungee jump demonstration earlier had been any indication. He mulled over it for a few seconds. The mother seemed to be a touchy subject. Perhaps a guilt trip was in order… yeah, that might do the trick!

He glanced over at her. She was fiddling with a strap on her backpack and hanging her head. Perhaps she was already beginning to regret her decision? This might be simpler than he thought.

"...I did it..."

He perked his ears at the sound of her mumbling something. "What was that?" he asked.

"I can't believe I _actually_ did it!" she whooped, pumping a fist in the air and her hair rustling around her as she bounced excitedly. "I _left!_ I'm free! I-" Her face went slack with horror. "I am _so_ dead!"

He raised a finger and opened his mouth to say something, but he didn't get a chance. She grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him down to her eye level.

"My mom is gonna kill me!" she insisted, her eyes panicked. Then the terror suddenly vanished and she released him with a soft laugh. "Nah, she won't kill me. Oh sure, she'll be mad, but it'll be worth it to finally be outside… to go to the festival!" She paused, then looked at him, her face unsure. "...right?"

"Uh…" was his eloquent response.

"Oh god, she's gonna straight up murder me," Rapunzel answered her own question as she raked her fingers through her scalp. Then she perked up again, eyes twinkling. "But helloooo, tomorrow will only be the best freaking day ever!" Her energy was short lived as she slumped against a wall and began to chew on a lock of her hair. "She'll murder me dead. With a rusty machete. Chop me up into little pieces and sell my organs on Ebay and use the profits to buy a better, more grateful, less despicable daughter."

Okay... this was getting a little dark.

On the plus side however, Flynn had just the opening he needed. He cleared his throat to get her attention. "Not to interrupt your, ah…"

"Gollum-Smeagol moment?" she suggested.

"...sure." Whatever that was. A clinical term, maybe? "But I don't think you have anything to worry about."

"I don't?" she asked in a small, hopeful voice.

He shook his head. "Nah, she'd never murder you. She loves you too much." He inspected his nails casually. "She'll probably just disown you."

Her eyes grew wide. "...d-disown me…?"

"Well yeah, what with the way you're ripping her heart out and stomping on it."

"Ripping her heart out?" she asked aghast.

Flynn nodded. "With a knife."

Rapunzel looked down. "...stomping on it?"

"Utterly pulverizing it, really," he said matter-of-factly. "You must really hate her."

"No! No, I don't hate her!" she cried, frantically shaking her head.

"You don't?" he asked, placing a hand on his chest in exaggerated shock, then tsked. "Oh dear. That's how she's going to see it. I mean, what's she supposed to think when you run away from home and abandon her?"

"That… oh no… she'll think that I hate her." Her hands clasped over her mouth. "...what have I done?"

He patted her on the shoulder. "There, there. Worry not, Blondie. It's not too late."

"It's not?"

This was too easy.

"Of course not! If we head back now, we can have you back safe and sound before your mom gets home and she'll be none the wiser. It'll be like it never happened." Turning towards the elevator console, he said, "Salvation is just the push of a button away." He reached a hand out to stop the elevator.

"Hold it," he heard Rapunzel snarl behind him and he froze. His head hesitantly turned to find she had raised her pan towards him threateningly. "Back away from the button. Slowly."

"But-"

"Back away," she repeated, narrowing her eyes, "or lose the finger." Both his hands snapped up in surrender and he did as he was told. "Nice try, bucko. I can see that I've met my match."

Rolling his eyes, he said, "Again with the tired movie clichés."

She ignored him. "But your diabolical mind games won't work on me, _Flynn Rider_."

"You know, you don't always have to say my full name. Just Flynn is fine."

"The fact of the matter is, if you want your precious purse-"

"Satchel," he corrected blandly.

"-whatever. If you want it back, you're stuck with me until after the festival." She glared up at him, her words brooking no argument. "Is that-"

A musical chime sounded overhead and the elevator came to an abrupt stop, making Rapunzel jump back with a tiny "meep!" The doors slid open and her hair spilled out onto the floor. Her eyes shifted about momentarily before she poked a head out, as cautious and uncertain as a mouse peeking from its hole. But then she gave a delighted gasp and bolted out of the elevator. Flynn quirked an eyebrow.

Well, she was certainly more easily distracted than a five-year old with ADHD.

He stepped out as well, making sure to first carefully disentangle his feet from the hair that was still piled in the lift before he took a look around. They had arrived at the bottom floor of the building - the lobby. It was large and decorated in dark, ruby reds and rich, gleaming golds. Many people were milling about the room, a fact that Rapunzel was taking full advantage of.

"Hello!" she chirped as she ran up to a well dressed older couple standing next to the reception desk. She gave them no chance to respond before she darted off to a man wearing an eyepatch relaxing on a couch in the lounge area as he read a newspaper. She startled him by grabbing his hand and vigorously shaking it, exclaiming, "Hi! Nice to meet you! Whatcha reading? What happened to your eye? Did it hurt? Your eyepatch is cool. I-"

Her eyes fell on a woman another sofa over and she gasped, running over to her. "Oh my gosh, that's gorgeous! How did you do that?" she asked, referring to the lady's elaborate braided bun. Her words jumbled together as she continued, "Did it take a long time? I bet it took a long time. Did you do it yourself? Did you have help? What did you use? How-"

"You'll have to excuse my friend," Flynn cut in, grabbing Rapunzel by the shoulders from behind. He flashed the woman a smooth grin, "Blondie here's just a little excited. She recently found out they make Candy Corn flavored Oreos."

The look of shock and awe on Rapunzel's face was almost comical. "Shut _up!_ Do they really?"

"...heh… so excited that she forgot what she's so excited about! Kids, am I right?" He hastily pushed Rapunzel away from the lady and maneuvered her towards the exit, muttering, "Jeez, Blondie, what's the deal? You act like you've never been in public before."

"Well… I haven't."

He blinked.

Say what?

Before he realized it, she was off again, running towards the double doors leading outside. A doorman held one open for her as she ran by. She stopped long enough to give him a quick, but very appreciative, "Thank you so much!" before continuing on. He politely tipped his hat to her before looking down and gawking.

As Flynn followed Rapunzel outside, he could hear the doorman muttering, "So much… hair…" He came to a screeching stop next to the bewildered man, looking down to see the locks rushing by like a custard river.

Flynn laughed. "Uh… yeah, she's… growing it out." He looked from the hair to the doorman. Poor guy was going to be holding that door open for a while. Flynn bent down to pull a few yards of it through to try to speed the process along a bit. Then he looked back into the lobby and realized that Rapunzel's hair was still filing out of the elevator door all the way on the other side of the room. Screw it. He gave the doorman an apologetic look before turning to catch up with the girl.

She was nowhere to be seen, but her hair was another story. It trailed down the sidewalk to the right and disappeared around the corner. Well, at least he'd never have to be worried about losing her.

As he turned the corner, he found Rapunzel standing stock still, eyes wide with amazement. He walked up to stand beside her and looked around, trying to pinpoint what exactly she was so fascinated by. After a few seconds, he realized what it was: _everything_. It seemed that she found the city nightlife to be a thing of enchantment. From the streetlights overhead to the headlights of the car whizzing by on the road. From the colorfully dressed people walking around to the equally colorful murals painted on the walls. Not to mention all the sounds and scents that seemed to be overwhelming her - not that she appeared to mind in the slightest.

He looked on and furrowed his brow. Wait a minute… all kidding aside, had she _seriously_ never been outside before?

He was pulled out of his thoughts by several sharp tugs at his sleeve. He looked down at her beaming face and she pointed at a group of homeless people. "Look, Flynn, look! Bums!" she chirped happily.

"...okay?"

Strange thing to get excited about.

He watched as someone began to approach the group of transients. Actually, this person looked kind of like Rapunzel. The similarities were uncanny really, right down to the freakishly long hair. Maybe that was just the trending hairstyle in Corona currently? That had to be it, because there was no way it was actually Rapunzel. The girl was naive, but she wouldn't go so far as to just go skipping on up to a pack of dirty and potentially dangerous vagrants. No no, he mused with a chuckle as he turned to look at her, she was obviously still here at his side, safe as a bug in a-

He did a double take.

The space beside him was empty.

His head whipped back around to discover that the person that bore a striking resemblance to Rapunzel _was_ , in fact, Rapunzel. He smacked his forehead, then slowly dragged his hand down his face, eyes peeking out between his fingers to watch.

They were far enough away that he couldn't hear what was being said, but the body language was easy enough to read, especially hers. She greeted the drifters with bubbly enthusiasm that practically radiated off of her in waves. They eyed her curiously before one held a hand out to her, palm upraised. She stared down at it, frowning and shaking her head slowly. But then her face lit up like the sun and she flipped her backpack around so she could unzip one of its many pockets. Her hand rooted around inside it for a few seconds before pulling out a handful of several thin, plastic rectangles. She shoved them into his outstretched hand, beaming triumphantly at him as he and the rest of his group blinked at her gift. She then shouldered her bag once more, waved an energetic goodbye to them, which they just returned with wide eyed stares, before she jogged back towards Flynn.

"I'm sorry," Flynn said as she approached him, "but did you just hand those bums a stack of credit cards?"

"Yup!" she nodded firmly.

"...why?"

"Because I didn't have any munny."

He quirked an eyebrow. "So… to you, the next logical step was to give them all your credit cards."

She waved a dismissive hand. "Not all of them. I still have a ton more."

"Oh. Because that's so much better," he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You know they're going to buy stuff with those now, right?"

She tipped her head to one side. "Um… that's kinda the point?"

"I mean like, a _lot_ of stuff. They'll max out all those cards."

"So?" she shrugged.

"Maybe no one's ever taught you how credit works. You're going to have to pay for everything they buy. That's not free munny, you know."

She clapped her hands to her cheeks and gasped, "No!"

Had she just sassed him?

"Relax," she snorted with a grin. She had. She had sassed him. "I have the cash to spare. Besides, they need it more than I do."

Flynn opened his mouth, but almost immediately snapped it shut again. He proceeded to narrow his eyes as he tried to think of an argument that didn't make him sound like an uncaring cad. It was difficult. Luckily, he was saved from having to come up with one as something behind him caught Rapunzel's interest, her eyes becoming huge and her jaw going slack. "Wow!" she breathed as she ran past him.

Now what?

"She so pretty! So… so glamorous!" she said, her voice overflowing with wonder.

He followed her gaze and he blinked. "Um… Blondie? That's… ah, how shall I put this? That's a… a working girl. A lady of the night." He squinted. "Also, I think _she_ might be a _he_."

A crease formed between Rapunzel's eyebrows. "Does that make her any less beautiful?"

"...well, no, I guess not…"

"And you're telling me people pay her to…?" she trailed off and Flynn simply nodded in response. He expected her to blush at the notion, but instead she just looked thoughtful as her head tilted to the left. "Huh. Guess she must be really good at it then."

He arched an eyebrow at her. "How do you figure?"

"Think of it this way. Do people give _you_ munny to sleep with them?"

"Um… no."

"And why do you think that is?" she pressed. "Perhaps the quality of your services isn't as good as hers. Maybe she could give you some tips."

"Hey!" he snapped. "Believe you me, that's- I- the _quality_ of my goods in that department is top notch, thank you very much, and-"

"Puppy!" she whooped, attention drawn away once more as she ran off.

Dear lord, she was like a catnip-high kitten and the whole world was her laser light pointer.

...now there's an idea. Maybe if he got a laser pointer, he could use it to distract her and keep her under control. Where would one buy one of those, anyway?

Sighing, he looked at what she had identified as a puppy. He then looked at Rapunzel, who was currently dashing at high velocity towards a very busy street in order to cross it to get to the animal. Rolling his eyes, he glanced down at her hair as it zipped past him on the ground. Then he stepped on it.

"Youch!" she hissed as she came to a screeching halt at the curb, vehicles racing by mere inches in front her. Spinning around to face him, she scowled. "What was that for?"

He pointed a finger at the creature in question across the street. "First off, that's not a puppy, that's a raccoon. Second off, those shiny metallic things you see blurring by? Those are cars."

She crossed her arms and scoffed, "I know what cars are, Flynn."

He gave a wry chuckle. "I don't think ya do, because you were exactly zero-point-five seconds away from becoming roadkill. Come on, Blondie, I know you don't get out much, but haven't you ever heard of looking both ways?"

"They would have stopped."

"No," he deadpanned. "No, they wouldn't have."

With a harrumph, she turned to look at the animal once more. "...are you sure that's a raccoon?"

"It has a striped tail, a mask, and is rooting around in a trash can. I'm pretty sure."

She considered that in silence for a few seconds, then said, "Raccoons need love too."

"Sure, if you don't mind rabies."

With each passing breath, one thing was becoming abundantly clear to Flynn. As much as he wanted to leave, there was no way this girl could be left alone. Even if he got a chance to steal back the crown from her and split, he just wouldn't be able to bring himself to do it knowing that she was a walking catastrophe just waiting to happen. He just knew she would wind up taken advantage of, hurt, or dead if left to her own devices. He may have been a cad, but he was a cad with a stupid, pesky conscience.

That being said, he still couldn't just hang around town for another 48 hours. That was as good as strolling up to the next officer he saw and politely asking to be cuffed and tossed into a jail cell.

Somehow he needed to convince her to change her mind, abandon her mission and return home early. The question was how?

The answer came to him in the form of a monstrous growl from Rapunzel's stomach. He looked down at it, a sly smile slowly spreading across his face. He knew just what to do.

"Someone hungry?" he asked.

She had clasped a hand to her abdomen and replied sheepishly, "Maybe just a little."

His smile twitched slightly wider. "I know just the place. Good food, great atmosphere, live music, my treat."

She perked up a bit. "Really?"

"Yes, really. I mean, come on, what kind of guide would I be if I didn't show you all the local highlights and attractions?" He spun her around and slung an arm over her shoulder, leading her at a brisk pace down the sidewalk. "Let me tell you, Blondie, you're in for a real treat. Just a few blocks down and around the corner is a quaint, homey, fantastic little place known as The Snuggly Duckling."

She grinned. "Well, I do like ducklings."

"Yay!" he chirped.

The crown was as good as his.

* * *

Sora's search had turned up squat. Not the Keyhole, not the mysterious person wearing Riku's jacket, nothing. Well, nothing except for a few Heartless scattered here and there that he had made quick work of. It was all somewhat disappointing really. Maybe Elsa and Axel had had better luck.

Speaking of those two, he hoped they weren't thinking he had fallen prey to the Heartless, since it was now well past when he had agreed to meet up with them. He had simply lost track of the time. The starry night sky sparkled overhead as he sprinted through the city trying to get to the meeting spot as quickly as he could. The sidewalks were still packed with tourists and other pedestrians even though the sun had set long ago, so he zigzagged precariously around other people as he moved. So far, he had been lucky enough to avoid any head-on collisions.

His luck ran out when he took the next corner a little too quickly without looking.

"Oomph!" he grunted as he ran into someone, knocking himself flat on his rear. The woman he had collided with stood firm, an impressive feat given the glossy black, six-inch stilettos she was wearing.

She was tall and willowy. At her height, she could have given Axel a run for his munny. She was like a porcelain statue, flawless and pale. Her hair, dark as a moonless midnight, was done up into a tight, elegant bun and contrasted sharply with her ivory skin. In her black pencil skirt and jacket with a silk, royal purple blouse underneath, she looked ready to conduct a business meeting as some powerful CEO at a multimillion dollar corporation. Her face was narrow and angular and ageless. Violet eyeshadow was lightly dusted over her onyx eyes and her lips were painted a deep rose red. She was beauty, grace and sophistication personified.

Sora was speechless as he stared up at her.

One corner of her mouth quirked upward ever so slightly as she looked down at him in curious amusement.

Finally he snapped out of it as he stammered, "G-Gosh, I'm so sorry, ma'am! I didn't mean to- I wasn't watching where I was going! This is all my fault, I-"

"Dear boy, there is no need for that," she interjected with a chuckle that was soft and silvery. She reached a well-manicured hand down toward him. "Here, let me help you."

He stared dumbly at the offered hand for a second before accepting it and rising to his feet. He rubbed the back of his neck as his face turned slightly red. She seemed nice. Classy, even. "Th-thanks," he muttered shyly.

She studied him thoughtfully with a tilt of her head. "You're not from around here, are you?"

He blinked. "Actually, yeah. We... that is, my friends and I are just passing through on, uh... business." He winced. Wow, he felt really lame saying something like that to a high-powered career lady like this. She probably thought him quaint.

She gave him a warm smile. "Ah, a fellow entrepreneur. How delightful." She still had a delicate hold on his hand. Leaning in closer to him, she gently placed her free hand on his bracer. A pallid green, crackling spark passed from her long, thin fingers into the metal as she made contact. She didn't react to the flicker. He didn't notice it at all. "Well, try not to work yourself too hard, young man. Corona is a marvelous little city just brimming over with all sorts of fantastic distractions. Why, just tomorrow in fact is the world famous Starlight Festival. You should definitely set aside some time to go see it. In particular, the show at night is absolutely breathtaking."

"A festival?" That might explain the crowded streets and tourists as far as the eye could see. In any case, visiting this event might not be a bad idea. If he had learned anything about Keyholes, it was that they certainly seemed to like showing up wherever the most action was. Sora flashed her a giant grin. "Thanks for the suggestion. We'll definitely check it out!"

"My pleasure," she nodded.

"Anyway, I got to run, my friends are waiting on me. Thanks again!" He gave her an unnecessarily huge wave goodbye before turning and mumbling to himself, "The Starlight Festival, huh? Sounds like it'll be a night to remember." With that, he dashed off.

The woman folded her arms over her chest as she watched him go. Then a tiny smirk curved her lips. "A night to remember indeed, Keyblade Master." She chuckled and turned away, revealing that her bun was being held in place with a hair clip crafted into the shape of a finely detailed raven. The bird's eyes seemed to glimmer gold as she walked away.

A thought struck Sora and he came to a skidding halt. "Hey, where will the Starli-" he began to call back as he twisted around, but stopped when he realized she was gone. Jogging back a few steps, his eyes searched the throng of people milling around him. He felt like she wouldn't have been able to get far and someone like her would have stuck out of the masses like a sore thumb, but she was nowhere to be seen. It was as if she had simply vanished into thin air.

His brow furrowed, but then he shrugged and started running again.

He needed to get back to Elsa and Axel before they began to think he had become Heartless chow.

* * *

"Yup. He's probably Heartless chow by now."

"That's not funny," Elsa murmured distractedly as she anxiously scanned the face of every passerby.

Axel shrugged and smirked. "Come on, it's a little funny."

She turned her head to narrow her eyes at him. "How would you know?"

"You saying I don't have a sense of humor? That hurts. Right here," he placed a hand over his heart. Or rather, where it should have been. Then he quirked an eyebrow. "Wait." He knocked a fist against his chest and grinned. "No it doesn't. We're cool."

She snorted with a roll of her eyes as she returned her attention to watching for Sora.

Having had no success in their own hunt for the Keyhole, they had found their way back to the nightclub that they had all agreed to meet at after sundown and were now waiting in front of it. Axel was relaxed against a wall with his arms crossed while Elsa surveyed from the spot she had taken up in the middle of the sidewalk a few feet away. The club's activities seemed to be in full swing as it blasted out loud noises that could possibly be construed as music while partiers wearing more makeup than clothes wandered in and out of its front door. They had now been there for half an hour without so much of a hint of the spiky haired brunet that they were waiting on. They had tried texting him, but the reception here was no good.

After another minute, Elsa bit down on her lower lip. "Where is he? What's taking him so long?"

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure he's fine. Any minute now, he'll show up with that big, stupid smile on his face that he always seems to have."

She shifted her eyes to look at him once more. "You think so?"

He nodded. Then he glanced over at club entrance and tapped a finger to his chin in thought. Finally, he said, "Maybe he's already here and waiting for us inside."

Elsa blinked and followed his gaze. Then she slowly shook her head. "No, I doubt it."

"Why? We never said we'd meet out front," Axel pointed out. "He could have shown up before us, saw we weren't out here, then decided to look in there. Come on, it's at least worth checking out."

Shoving off the wall, he pushed passed a few clubgoers that had stepped out for some fresh air and walked in through entrance. It took him a few seconds to realize Elsa wasn't following right behind him. He peeked back out the door to see she hadn't budged an inch from her spot. She just stood there, wringing her bare hands together.

"You go," she told him, avoiding his gaze as he approached her once more. "I'll stay out here in case he shows up."

He watched in silence as she continued attempting to squeeze the life out of her fingers. Breathing a sigh out through his nose, he closed his hand softly around hers to still them. "Stop that."

She looked down and whispered, "I just… I don't want to hurt anyone."

He hunched forward to look her in the eye. "You said you wanted to learn to control your powers, right? Well, you gotta start somewhere."

Frowning up at him, she deadpanned, "And you believe a nightclub packed with hundreds of grinding dancers is the best place to start."

"Well yeah, when is it not?" he laughed. "It'll be okay. You'll see."

Still she hesitated. "...but what if I turn someone into the polar ice caps?"

"Then just call me global warming," he grinned before taking one of her hands in his and giving it a gentle tug.

Her feet dragged as she reluctantly let him pull her along. She said nothing, only stared down at his fingers interlaced with hers as he lead her in through the club's door, over which hung a bright, flashy neon sign.

It read _The Snuggly Duckling._

* * *

_**AN:** Aw snap, son! It's soooo close to happening! Everything and everyone is sooooo close to coming together! You can practically taste it! And it tastes like… um… VICTORY! Yeah, that's it xP Side note: I hope I left enough clues for ya'll to figure out who Sora had the pleasure of bumping into, even tho he clearly doesn't know it yet :3_

_Sad news guys! I only have 2 pre-written chapters of this story left! So only 2 more weeks of regular updates Dx Then after that, it'll just be as I have time to write for this story, while juggling with updating my other two active stories at the same time! (and hoping no new one-shot ideas come along to distract me lol) Don't worry, it'll all get finished! But you're about to see quite the slowdown in new stuff from me. Sorry, I do what I can, it just is what it is!_

_Special thanks and much love to_ _everyone who has shown support for this quirky little story! Thank you all for reading, hoped you liked it, please leave a comment and let me know what you think! Until next week, sayonara!_


	14. Chapter 14

With a soft chime, the elevator doors slid open and Rapunzel's mother stepped out onto the top floor of the building carrying a bag full of groceries. She was in a hallway that was lined with several doors leading into other condos. Other _vacant_ condos.

Just the way she wanted it.

Directly in front of her was the door leading into the only occupied residence on this floor, as well as the next fifteen floors down. It had locks, keypads, scanners and all sorts of other security devices that were the best that munny could buy. Standing beside that door was a very large, very muscular, very bald man in a black suit with a stern look in his eyes the color of rusty copper. His sleeves appeared to be on the verge of splitting at the seams due to his bulging biceps and he was tall enough that his head almost brushed the ceiling.

He too was the best that munny could buy.

"Evening, Ms. Gothel," the leviathan rumbled in a deep, clipped business tone.

"Good evening, Pascal," she returned the greeting, stepping up to the door he stood guard over and beginning to punch some numbers into one of the keypads. "Anything to report?"

"All's quiet."

She nodded, pressing her thumb to one screen and waiting for a beep. Then she started typing into another number pad. "Are your children well?" she asked conversationally.

"Very well." His stoic exterior softened slightly when one corner of his mouth twitched up fondly. "Lucius has a birthday coming up, and Tiana made the little league baseball team."

"Isn't that just precious?" she crooned as she leaned forward to have her left iris scanned. Then she pulled out a set of keys and released the last of the locks before checking her watch. "You're almost off?" At his nod, she said, "Well, you have a good night after your shift ends, Pascal."

"You do the same, Ms. Gothel," he replied, expression blank once more, as she finally opened the door and entered.

As the door fell shut behind her with several more clicks and beeps, she called out, "Pumpkin, I'm back!"

The dark condo greeted her with silence.

Walking over to the kitchen area, she opened the fridge and began to transition items from the paper bag into it. "Oh, honey, you know I hate leaving you after a fight, especially when I've done absolutely nothing wrong."

By the time her grocery bag was empty, she still had not heard a peep out of her daughter. Narrowing her eyes as she closed the refrigerator door, she called out once more, "Oh, not speaking to me now, are we?" She stalked over towards the canopy bed, where she could see a large shape under the covers. "Not exactly proving to me right now what a mature, young lady you are… Ha!" she cried as she whipped the covers back, revealing nothing more than a pile of plushies.

Frowning, her eyes went to the bathroom door, which lay open and showed an unlit room on the other side. She wasn't in there. Maybe out on the balcony?

She flicked on the overhead faery lights on her way the glass door. Sliding it open, she called, "Rapunzel?"

When there was no answer this time, her heart went cold.

"Rapunzel, this isn't funny. March your butt out here this instant, Missy!" she snapped.

Again, nothing.

Beginning to panic, she rushed out onto the terrace. She tore through the jungle of plants for the next several minutes, but came up empty handed. Running back inside, she started searching frantically as she shouted her daughter's name repeatedly, her alarm growing with each unanswered call. A messy, scattered trail of books, clothes, DVDs and other odds and ends were left in her wake. She looked inside, under, and behind whatever furniture she could think of, any hiding spot Rapunzel could reasonably fit in, plus many that were unreasonable as well.

She made herself stop and take a calming, if somewhat shaky breath as she realized she was now digging through the silverware drawer. Okay, her daughter was flexible, but not quite flexible enough to fit in _there_. She needed to think with a more level head. Slowly turning where she stood as she looked for clues, she found she couldn't keep her mind quiet.

Where _was_ she? Had she been kidnapped? Did she fall off the balcony? Was she-

Her questions were silenced as her eyes fell on the fridge door. Something was different… a note! There was a note on it that hadn't been there before! She lunged forward and snatched it up, reading it hastily.

_Dear Mother,_

_I've run away._

_Just kidding, don't freak out! I have gone out, but I'll be back in a couple days! I'm with a friend, so you have absolutely nothing to worry about._

_Love,_

_Rapunzel_

_P.S. Whatever you do, please, please, PLEASE don't open the wardrobe until I get back and can explain._

She blinked once and re-read the letter. Then she read it again. She read it seventeen more times, the sheet crumpling as her fingers gripped it more tightly.

Gone out? A couple days? A friend? _What_ friend? And what was the deal with the _wardrobe_?

Her eyes went to the piece of furniture in question. Her wild search had not brought her over to that corner of the room, so she had not checked inside it yet. For the first time, she realized there was a chair pressed up under its door handles, blocking it shut. As if… something were being held inside…?

What the hell had been going on in her absence?!

She took a hesitant step towards the closet. Then another. As if in a trance, she approached it, reaching a hand out for the chair.

There was a crackling buzz. "Ms. Gothel?"

She just about leapt out of her skin. One of her hands flew to her chest to cover her pounding heart as she spun around. That had been Pascal's voice that had come through the intercom affixed next to the front door. She'd never heard him use the intercom before, why would he? Unless-

Her eyes went wide. Was Rapunzel out there? She raced over to the door, crossing the large room in the blink of an eye. Her fingers were a blur as she released the locks and disabled the rest of the security measures faster than she ever had before, faster than should have been humanly possible. Then she threw the door open. "Rapun-!"

The rough, chiseled face that greeted her was most definitely not Rapunzel's.

"Evening, Ma'am. Detective Colt," the man in a trench coat introduced himself, holding up his badge. He was not short by any means, but with the way Pascal loomed over his shoulder, he may as well have been a hobbit. "May I have a word?"

"A- You- I-" she stammered, unable to form a coherent thought. This was the first time a cop - scratch that, this was the first time _anyone_ besides herself or a security guard had ever shown up on this doorstep. What was a detective doing here? Suddenly, her mouth went dry. Had something happened...? Had something happened to her daughter? Holding the doorframe for support, she asked, "Wh-what is this about, officer?"

"May I come in?" he asked, his voice flat and gravelly as he tucked his badge back into his coat.

Her gut instinct was to demand a warrant, which she suspected he did not have, and then slam the door shut in his face. But she squashed that instinct. It's how she would, and should, have reacted if Rapunzel was inside, but she wasn't. She didn't know where the girl had run off to, and this man might have information relating to that.

The bodyguard seemed to sense her agitation and looked ready to hurl the officer out the nearest window, but she stayed him with her hand. "It's alright, Pascal. Yes, please come in, Detective."

Pascal seemed surprised as he reluctantly backed off. Opening the door wider, she gestured Colt inside and he complied.

Closing the door, she turned to find him inspecting the space from where he stood with a critical eye. The room looked like a hurricane had blown right through it - the aftermath from her discovery of Rapunzel's disappearance. "Gave the maid the day off?" he asked casually.

"Ah, no, just…" she cleared her throat, "...doing some… spring cleaning."

He gave a curt nod. "You live here alone, Ma'am?"

She looked at him sharply. If he was asking a question like that, then maybe his visit wasn't regarding Rapunzel after all. Maybe he had no idea of her existence whatsoever. She ignored his question. "What is this about?" she inquired a second time.

If he thought her lack of answer odd, his steely face didn't show it. "I'm investigating a crime that took place in the vicinity. The perpetrator may have escaped into your balcony."

She blinked, eyes darting from the man to her terrace. A terrace that was a little over eighty floors up off the ground. "...okay… how?"

"I'm not at liberty to discuss the details of the case, Ma'am."

She folded her arms over her chest and eyed him warily. "I see."

"Have there been any suspicious characters in the area this evening?"

"No... but I haven't been home for long."

"Notice anything missing when you got back?"

Yes, an unruly teenager about yeigh high and hair long enough for, let's say, three hundred preschoolers to play jump rope with.

She shook her head. "Everything seems to be in its place."

His gaze returned to roving the catastrophe that was the condo. "Is that so?"

"I have a system," she nodded. Since it seemed the detective knew nothing of Rapunzel, she wanted to keep it that way. She'd find her daughter on her own. It was time to wrap this up and send Detective Colt on his way. "Now, if that's all, I-"

A thunderous crash reverberated around the room, making her jump and him reach for the holster under his coat. Her wide eyes immediately went to the armoire.

"What was _that_?" he growled, glancing around. It seemed the detective was less keen as to the exact source of the noise.

"That was the cat," she stated quickly. With Rapunzel's warning about the wardrobe, she seriously doubted she wanted Colt anywhere near it.

He raised a dubious eyebrow at her and opened his mouth, but before he could utter a word, there was more loud thrashing noises. This time they both watched as the wardrobe shook violently several times before settling down again.

"...do you always lock your cat in the closet?" he deadpanned.

"Oh, yes. Fluffy loves it in there, go figure."

He frowned, then started walking towards the wardrobe in long strides. She moved to stand in his way, but he just pushed passed her, pulling out his firearm. "Please stand aside, Ma'am."

As if sensing him drawing near, the armoire rattled again with even more enthusiasm, beginning to careen from side to side. As she watched, she had to wonder what on earth her daughter had trapped in there. The officer furrowed his brow at the chair lodged up against the doors, then aimed his pistol while using his foot to knock the chair out of the way.

The doors banged open and a small blur of white charged out at him. Muffling a curse, he ducked and it flew over his head. It zipped through the air, doing a few loops as if caught in a tiny invisible cyclone before slowing enough to land delicately on its feet.

Though it lacked eyes, the pale little monster with a zipper for a mouth seemed to look back and forth between Colt and Ms. Gothel a few times, swaying hypnotically where it stood. Then its whole body shuddered and began to vibrate, convulsing in on itself. A few seconds later, it stopped just as suddenly as it started. The creature looked around once more. It seemed to be… confused?

"Lady, that's one strange cat you have," the detective murmured, not taking his eyes off it.

"It's… a rare breed."

The thing abruptly took flight once more, slithering through the air towards the sliding door leading out onto the balcony. Glass seemed to be a foreign concept to it, as it collided with the transparent pane with a loud _thud!_

It shook off its daze before launching itself back the way it had come from. It flew wildly about the space, zigzagging to and fro, forcing them to duck several times to avoid being struck by it as it passed.

It seemed to be searching for something. And when it finally slammed into the front door, it became apparent what that something was: an escape route. It slid down the surface until it hit the ground. Then it flattened itself against the floor and slipped out through the paper-thin crack under the door.

Silence filled the room for a second as they both just stared at where it had disappeared. Then her eyes shot to Detective Colt. Laughing nervously, she clapped her hands together and said, "Would you look at that? The cat learned a new trick!"

"That is no cat!" he snapped.

A surprised yelp from Pascal could be heard from the other side of the door. Detective Colt leapt into action, holstering his gun once more and running at the door. He fumbled with the locks for a few seconds, before rounding on her. "Get this damn thing open right now!"

She hurried to comply. After several clicks and beeps, she pulled the door open. The creature was nowhere to be seen, but Pascal stood there, back pressed against a wall and mouth hanging agape.

"Which way did it go?" the detective demanded. Wordlessly, the bodyguard pointed down the hallway to the left. Colt ran a few steps in the direction indicated, then came to a screeching halt long enough to shout back at her, "We're not done. Don't leave town!" Then he took off sprinting once more. They lost sight of him as he turned down a corner at the far end of the hallway.

Ms. Gothel stared at the spot where he had disappeared, narrowing her eyes and pursing her lips. Then she spun on her heel and swiftly marched back into the condo, her mind racing. She was beginning to get a clearer idea of what had happened here while she was gone. She may not yet have the whole picture, but the pieces were slowly beginning to fall into place.

Where had Rapunzel been pestering, pleading, begging her to take her for the past several weeks? The Starlight Festival. Was her daughter desperate - nay, boneheaded enough to run off with some wanted criminal that just fell into her lap simply for a chance to go to that inane celebration? You bet.

A minute later, she stepped back out into the hall now wearing a long coat and carrying a large shoulder bag packed to the brim. She looked at Pascal. The normally intimidating guardian with a fearsome scowl was currently hovering uncertainly nearby.

"Come, Pascal," she said cooly. "We're heading out."

"We are?" he asked as his eyebrows shot up his forehead. His gaze shifted to the condo door as it clicked shut behind her. He never left his post, not while he was on the clock. "Where?"

Eyes hard as flint, she raised her chin. "To bring my rebellious, runaway daughter home, even if we have to drag her back by the hair, kicking and screaming."

* * *

_**Author's Note:**  Eek, sorry for the late update! Things got hectic this week and I just didn't have the chance to post until now!_

_Anyway! The plot thickens xD How does Gothel plan to hunt down her wayward daughter? And where oh where is our little Dusk going to lead the Detective on this merry little chase? Sorry, I know you're all excited for the big Snuggly Duckling meetup and expected it this chapter, but not quite yet xD It's coming tho, I swear!_

_Special thanks and much love to everyone who has shown support for this quirky little story!  Thank you all for reading, hoped you liked it, please leave a comment and let me know what you think!_ _Be back for next week's update! :)_


	15. Chapter 15

Okay, so maybe Flynn had to admit that he'd oversold The Snuggly Duckling a bit.

By "good food," he'd meant overcooked onion rings, stale pretzels, and soggy fries.

By "great atmosphere," he'd meant lung-burning smoke billowing everywhere, epilepsy-triggering strobe lights swinging wildly about, and enough people bumping and elbowing each other to violate more than thirty fire safety codes.

By "live music", he'd meant one gangly, acne-ridden teenager with his pants hanging down around his knees playing DJ, blaring music loud enough to explode ear drums. Hey, the DJ was a living person, therefore the music was live. That counted, right? Right.

Yes, The Snuggly Duckling was every inch the quaint, homey, fantastic little place he'd made it out to be, obviously. A really classy, five star joint. The crème de la crème. And if Rapunzel didn't like it? Well shoot… then maybe she should just forget this whole little outing of hers and go home. This was the real world after all, and if she couldn't handle one measly little nightclub, how could she ever hope to enjoy a whole festival?

That's it. That's how it all should have gone down the instant Rapunzel had stepped foot inside this place.

At least, that's how Flynn had pictured it all going in his head.

Instead...

"Woohoo!" he heard her shriek happily as she body surfed over a crowd of people on the dance floor.

Flynn, seated at the bar, rolled his eyes and banged his forehead against the countertop.

What he hadn't counted on was her actually liking everything. Absolutely freaking _loving_ it all. From the crappy grub to the indecipherable noise blasting out of the overhead speakers. And the people - god, she adored the people. The feeling appeared to be mutual as not five minutes after they had entered, it seemed she had gained a small cult following.

She was having the time of her life.

Way to go, Flynn.

Sighing, he straightened up with a scowl and propped his chin on his knuckles. He needed a plan. He needed out.

How did he even get into this whole mess in the first place? Mulling over it for a moment, he determined exactly where everything had gone wrong: The Smolder.

It had failed him. Why hadn't it worked? It _always_ worked. No woman was able to withstand the awesome, swoon-inducing might of The Smolder. Well… no woman that is except for one tiny wisp of a blonde in serious need of a haircut. How was it she had been so unaffected?

…dear lord, was he losing his touch?

He snorted. Nope. No way. Perish the thought. In fact, he'd prove it right now. He'd prove just how much a lady's man he was. Not just any lady's man. _The_ lady's man.

Flynn turned in his seat, scanning the crowd for a moment. Then he spotted her: a petite little thing with platinum blonde hair, seated off to the side looking awkward and alone.

_Perfect_.

He rose from the barstool and started to push his way through the undulating mass of bodies, making his way towards her as he put on a smile that was as smooth as silk.

Girl, prepare to swept off those pretty little feet of yours.

* * *

Elsa suspected she was going to get carpal tunnel, what with the amount of time she spent twisting and tugging at her braid on a daily basis. With a tiny scowl, she released her plaited hair and pressed her hands firmly into her lap.

She wished Axel would hurry up and return.

After they had made their way inside, they had found an empty table near a wall. Despite the place being packed, it wasn't really such an amazing feat, as there were many available tables to choose from. Apparently, people came to nightclubs to dance, not to sit. Go figure. After Elsa had taken a seat at the table, Axel had left to take a brief look around for Sora. It had seemed like a better idea for him to go by himself rather than dragging Elsa through the pressing tangle of people. With a quick promise that he'd return shortly, the crowd swallowed him whole as he'd walked off.

That had been several minutes ago and he still wasn't back. Just how big was this club anyway? Heaving a heavy sigh, she glanced around. At least no one was bothering her. She studied the walls where strange, abstract art hung, yellow splotches of paint smattered across the canvas, possibly depicting ducklings. Her eyes traveled upward, where the walls disappeared into darkness. Apparently, the ceiling was very high up there. All that could be seen of it through the thin veil of smoke were sprinkles of tiny, twinkling yellow lights. She suspected they were supposed to resemble stars. Squinting up at them, she frowned.

Were those lights… moving...?

"Hi there."

Choking down a startled gasp, she tore her gaze away from the ceiling to discover a man had taken a seat beside her. He had planted an elbow on the table and propped his chin in the palm of his hand. A smile tugged at one corner of his mouth and he doing something weird with his eyes.

So much for not being bothered.

"Name's Flynn. What's yours?" he purred as he hunched forward, bringing himself closer to her.

She grit her teeth and leaned back. Looking down, she realized she had unconsciously gripped a napkin tightly in her hand. And on said napkin, crystallized frost had begun to form. She hastily hid it under the table.

This guy needed to leave. Now. That is, assuming he was a fan of having a body temperature above absolute zero, which was a fair assumption.

"Um… I'm sorry, but I-"

"Soaree?" he asked. "What a beautiful name. Very exotic."

She blinked.

He went on, "You look so familiar. Did we have a class together?"

She quirked an eyebrow at him. Not that he looked ancient or anything, but he certainly was no high school student. What was even happening right now?

"Because I could have sworn we had chemistry," he winked.

… _oh my god._

Was he _hitting_ on her?

"And sorry, I don't mean to stare, I'm just looking for the signature. Every masterpiece has one."

He _was_. He was hitting on her. Here she was, worried about the very real possibility of turning the guy into a frozen person-pop, and he was trying to pick her up. With an internal groan, she realized what the strange thing was that he was doing with his eyes. They were his _bedroom_ eyes.

His grin twitched wider. "Speechless, huh? I tend to have that effect on the fairer sex."

Oh dear. The clueless schmuck - Flynn, was it? - seemed to be thinking he was doing well.

She stiffened as he began to reach a hand towards her cheek, murmuring, "So it's nothing to-"

Another hand belonging to neither of them suddenly shot out and clamped down around Flynn's index finger just before it made contact with her skin. Flynn yelped as his poor digit was twisted in a painful manner that wrenched his whole arm around behind him, bringing him crashing down to his knees. Eyes widening, Elsa looked up to discover that her would-be suitor's assailant was none other than Axel.

Still holding the other man's finger firmly against his back, forcing his arm into an uncomfortable angle, the redhead crouched down next to him with a feral smirk and lazily tipped his head to one side. "Didn't anyone ever teach you to keep your hands to yourself?"

He grunted out something that was drowned out in the pounding music.

Axel cupped his free hand to his ear. "Sorry? Didn't quite catch that."

Flynn said nothing, just winced up at him.

"That's what I thought. Now here's what's gonna happen. I'm going to give you the option to walk away, and I strongly suggest you take it. Otherwise, I won't continue to be the warm, cuddly, and friendly individual I am currently being. Got it?"

After a second of hesitation, Flynn gave a curt nod. Seemingly good enough for Axel, he straightened up and released his grip on the man. The brunet hissed in pain, giving his arm a shake as he scrambled to his feet and quickly retreated into the crowd.

Elsa hid a smirk behind her hand. The poor guy. Looking up at Axel, she simply said, "Thanks."

He waved one hand dismissively while using the other to take hold of the now vacated chair beside her. He spun it around and sat down in it backwards, folding his arms across the backrest. "Don't mention it. Some guys just don't know how to take no for an answer."

She scratched her cheek with one finger. "To be fair, I hadn't actually told him no yet."

"He wasn't really giving you a chance to either. Anyway, I'm sure you had it all under control. I was only speeding the rejection process along."

"Under control, huh?" she snorted. She tossed the napkin she had been hiding onto the table. Now frozen completely solid, it landed with an audible _clink_ and clattered a bit before settling. She sighed, "Does that look under control to you?"

Quirking an eyebrow, he nudged the chunk of ice with the tip of his finger, then looked at her. "Alright, Frosty, I'm gonna have to ask you to quit stressing so much and cool it." He grinned, "See what I did there?"

"This isn't funny!" she huffed, then waved a hand at the napkin. "This could have been that guy!" A grimace marred her face. "You know what? This was a bad idea. I'm just going to go wait outside."

She stood and turned to walk away, but Axel's hand gently wrapping around her wrist stopped her. "Come on, now. We haven't even started your training yet."

"...my training?" She arched an eyebrow at him.

He released his hold and nodded at her chair. After a brief pause, she sat down again with a sigh. He rubbed his chin in thought for a moment before snapping his fingers. He then held up an index finger. "Okay, lesson one. Your powers aren't something to be feared. Yes, they can be dangerous, and yes, they can kick ass, as I'm sure you're well aware. But you also need to learn to have fun with them."

Her lips pursed dubiously to one side. "Fun?"

"Yup!" he chirped. He swiveled his head around, his eyes doing a quick scan of the club before coming to a stop on something. Elbowing her arm, he pointed. "Try him for starters. Give it a go."

Looking in the direction he indicated, Elsa spotted the man that had been hitting on her a minute ago. He was now sulking at the bar as he waited for the bartender to prepare him a drink. Her brow furrowed. "Give _what_ a go?"

"You know. Your freeze ray." He mimed finger guns at the target. "Pew, pew."

She gaped at him. "You mean you want me to use my power on him on _purpose?_ " At his rapid nod, she snapped, "No!"

"Relax, it's not like I'm telling you to ice the guy. I'm just saying mess with him a bit. Cut loose. Live a little."

She stubbornly crossed her arms over her chest. "No. Not happening."

A mischievous glint entered his eyes as he smirked. "What's the matter? Chicken?"

Her nostrils flared as she opened her mouth to argue, but then immediately clamped it back shut. She narrowed her eyes at Axel, who just continued to look smug. Stupid fake smug that she knew he couldn't actually feel. This was a ploy to goad her. She knew it. And yet, it was working. She found herself slowly, defiantly shifting her gaze back to Flynn.

She could _not_ believe she was even considering this.

The bartender had just delivered the drink he had ordered to him. Hesitantly, Elsa raised a hand in his direction. Chewing her bottom lip, she watched him pick up the mug. She could hear her heart pounding in her ear as she waited for an opening. _There!_ The energetic, grinding mob of dancers parted, giving her clear line of sight to Flynn for just a split second.

It was enough.

Before she could change her mind, she flicked her wrist. A pale, icy blue beam shot out from her fingertips and sped across the room in the space of heartbeat before crashing into the side of the mug in an unnoticed burst of tiny snowflakes just as the rim reached his lips.

A crease formed between Flynn's eyebrows - something was amiss. He pulled the cup back and studied its contents. Further perplexed, he banged the mug against the counter before lifting it over his head and tipping it upside down so he could look up into it.

_...thud!_

His drink, now a hard block of alcoholic ice, slid out of the mug in a blur and bashed into his nose. He yelped as his hand flew up to massage his tender snout.

Elsa snerked, covering her mouth with her fingers. Beside her, Axel clapped his hands together. "Good job, padawan. A-plus."

Still smiling, she shook her head, "Okay, not that that wasn't entertaining, but I'm not sure exactly what it was supposed to prove."

"That your ability is doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing. It only is if you let it be. It's whatever you make it. It doesn't have to be a curse, it could be-"

"- a prank," she deadpanned. "Because that's so much better."

"Well, that was just an example. The point is, it's not really good or evil. It just is. It's a tool and you're the one who chooses what to do with it. You're the one in control." He tapped a finger to his temple. "Once you get that memorized, you won't be so scared of it or worried about hurting anyone anymore."

"It's that simple, huh?" she asked wryly.

He shrugged. "It could be."

Somehow, she doubted that. However, arguing the point probably wouldn't get them anywhere, so instead she just harrumphed softly and averted her gaze. As she looked away, she realized for the first time that Axel had returned alone. "Didn't find Sora?"

"Nah. He'll turn up sooner or later though." The last notes of the music that had been playing died out and for a few seconds all that could be heard was the chatter and giggles of the sweating, panting dancers. Then the rhythmic hiss of a tambourine rattle started up. It was soon followed by a low, rubbery bassline that bounced cheekily along, causing Axel to perk an ear up. "Oh man, I love this song."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "...love?"

He shook his head. "Heh. Okay, okay, I _remember_ loving this song."

Grinning, she nodded. "It is a good one."

The drums started shuffling into the mix as he studied her, head tilted slightly to the left. Then a smirk tugged at one corner of his mouth. "Wanna dance?"

"What?" The word had hardly left her mouth before he sprung up from his seat, took both her hands in his and pulled her stumbling to her feet. A surging one-chord guitar riff sliced through the air as he dragged her out onto the dance floor. She tried to dig her heels in, chanting a steady stream of _no, no, no_ as she struggled to break free of his grip, but it was all in vain. They plunged into the heart of the crowd just as the rock song exploded with fast, spastic energy. It was only then that he let go of her hands.

She immediately turned to leave, only to find they were completely surrounded by gyrating clubgoers. There was no escape, not if she didn't want to risk starting a frostbite epidemic. She swallowed hard and the first tendrils of dread snaked around her heart as the air around her dropped a few degrees.

She jumped as she felt Axel's hand close around her own once more. The room, the lights, everyone and everything became a blur as he suddenly spun her around a couple times before pulling her in tight against him. He gave her a small smile, bending forward so his head was beside hers. "Lesson two," he murmured into her ear. "Forget where you are or what's around you. It doesn't matter. Just trust yourself."

His breath tickled and she shivered. He straightened up and Elsa worried her lower lip between her teeth, taking a look at the people around her. The innocent bystanders. Potential victims. "But-"

He pressed a finger to her lips. "No buts," he shook his head. He then threw her into another twirl as a brassy voice began belting out lyrics, silencing any of her further attempts to protest. Drawing her back in, he started bouncing along to the hyper beat like a jackrabbit on crack, pulling her along with him.

Her anxiety slowly melted away, as he was dancing - if it could be called that - like a maniac and it took all of her focus just to keep up. He was being absolutely ridiculous. Giddiness began to bubble up inside of her as she pranced around with him and she fought a grin forming on her face. Then he waggled his eyebrows at her and Elsa just lost it. She broke out into laughter.

"What's so funny?" he challenged as leaned her into a dramatic dip, a wolfish smirk on his face.

"You," she chuckled as they came back up. "Why are you even dancing? You can't enjoy it."

"But you do."

Her stomach fluttered and she nearly tripped. If it wasn't for Axel's firm hold on her waist, she would have. It was just the way he had said it, as if the answer should have been obvious. As if he cared about her feelings, whether she was happy or not. But he couldn't. She knew he couldn't, it simply wasn't possible. He was only trying to help her learn to live with her ability, albeit with rather unconventional methods. He was simply keeping her distracted.

And damned if it wasn't working.

She had never danced like this before. She had danced with Hans of course, but it had only ever been to slow songs, with gloved hands and reserved movements. Now the tempo was chaotic, her hands were bare and she was being wildly swept along by her partner with reckless abandon.

It was amazing.

Amazing, that is... right up until he swung her out once more and she crashed into someone. The shock from the collision was small, but it was enough. A familiar chill ran up her spine and down her left arm, as if ice were literally coursing through her veins. Her breath fogged and she watched wide-eyed and paralyzed as flecks of frost began to materialize in the air around her hand.

_No… not here… not again…_

Suddenly, Axel's arm hooked around her waist and he whirled her around with him. Using his other hand to clasp hers, she felt the warmth of his fingers spread through hers, instantly dispersing the cold that had been building up there. And just like that, the crisis was averted. She heard him make a hasty apology to the person she had run into before sweeping her off in a new direction.

"Lesson three," he raised his voice to be heard over the music as they came to a brief stop, the crowd still hopping and pulsing around them. "No matter what, I've got your back." He winked at her. "Always."

She didn't know what to say to that and for a few seconds, all she did was stare up at him. Finally she cracked a smile and ducked her head with a laugh, though she wasn't sure exactly why. Maybe it was his words, maybe it was just the relief flooding throughout her over not turning the club into a frozen tundra. Maybe it was a little of both. Whatever it was, Axel took it as a sign to pick up where they had left off as he pulled her into another spin.

Elsa was exhausted by the time the song came to an end, but it was a good kind of exhausted. Axel hardly looked winded. "How is it," she began with a smirk as she all but collapsed into a seat back at their table, "that for someone who is literally dead inside, you are the liveliest person I've ever met?"

Plopping down into his own chair, he considered the question for a moment before shrugging. "I think maybe everyone is dead inside in one form or another. Most people just aren't as good at hiding it."

She blinked. "Well, that's a depressing theory."

His shoulders bobbed again. "You asked."

"There you guys are!"

They looked up as Sora weaved his way through the clubbers to reach their table. As he threw himself into an available chair, he said, "I've been looking all over this place for you two. I thought we were meeting out front."

Elsa shot the redhead an _I-told-you-so_ look. Axel huffed, "What? We never said we'd meet outside!"

The trio took the time to catch up. After confirming that none of them had been able to locate the Keyhole, they exchanged specifics on anything they had come across that day. Sora told them about the stranger in Riku's hoodie, plus a few run-ins with some Heartless which unfortunately hadn't left any clues behind. Elsa in turn began to tell him about their brush with Larxene and her small army of minions.

"Hold on," Sora interrupted her, holding up a hand as he knit his eyebrows together. "Go back to those Lesser Nobodies. You said there was some sort of emblem printed on them?"

"Uh, yeah," she responded slowly, cocking an eyebrow. "Right here," she pointed at her own forehead.

Axel added, "It's the symbol for the Organization."

Sora slid a napkin across the table. "Could you draw it for me?"

"Why, what's up?" she asked. Beside her, Axel fished a pen out of his hoodie pocket and set to work on making a quick sketch on the napkin.

The Keyblade Master shook his head. "Just a hunch." A second later, Axel handed him back the completed drawing. He squinted at the napkin under the pulsating club lights for a few seconds, then flipped it upside down and showed it to the other two. "Look familiar?"

She sat up straighter. "It looks like that symbol we see on some of the Heartless!" Then she frowned. "So… the Heartless and the Nobodies have almost the same emblem, but inverted?"

"Well duh, I could have told you guys that ages ago," Axel stated.

"...why didn't you?"

He shrugged. "You never asked."

Elsa rolled her eyes. "Okay, so then why does Organization XIII use the upturned Heartless symbol?"

"Dunno. Never questioned it. Didn't seem important."

She facepalmed. Sora interjected, "Well, it could be nothing, or it could be something. I'm going to check with the Cricket, see if it comes up with anything." He pressed a finger to the small device with the blinking light nestled in his right ear. Then his eyes became unfocused and glassy as he fell silent.

They watched him as they waited. After a moment, Axel craned his neck towards Elsa and muttered out of the corner of his mouth, "Am I wrong, or is that fish-eyed stare he gets when he consults the Cricket kind of creepy?"

She snorted. "Oh, it's way creepy."

"I can still hear you guys, you know," Sora grumbled. Elsa cleared her throat and studied the table, while Axel simply shrugged. A few more seconds passed, then Sora gave himself a small shake and the life returned to his eyes. "Something did come up. Some sort of research facility."

Elsa tapped a finger to the napkin. "Let me guess. That's their logo." At his nod, she asked, "What do they research?"

"Not sure, that information wasn't available. Actually, there wasn't that much to find at all. Just that roughly a year ago, some huge accident shut the place down and it hasn't been in operation since."

"Wait a minute, a year ago?" She looked at Axel. "Isn't that when you said the Heartless started showing up?"

The Nobody nodded. "I smell a cover up."

"What was that facility called?"

"Radiant Garden," Sora replied. "And it definitely sounds like a place worth investigating once we're done here."

"Okay, at least we have a lead on something, but that unfortunately doesn't really help us right now." Elsa crossed her arms and slumped down into her chair. "We've been here a nearly whole day already and we're still no closer to finding the Keyhole. We're running out of time."

"Don't worry about it," Sora responded, relaxing back into his seat and lacing his fingers behind his head. "It'll turn up. It always does."

She sighed, "But it only took a couple hours to find the one in Arendelle."

He smirked. "Correction. We found that one a couple hours after we all _teamed up_. I had actually been in town for a couple days looking for it before we met."

"Oh wow, really?"

With a nod, he said, "It just varies. I've found some Keyholes faster than others, but I always find them. These things just seem to have a way of working themselves out. I always end up being exactly where I'm supposed to be at the right time."

"If you say so," she said doubtfully. "Well, then… what now? Do we keep looking or do we figure out someplace to sleep?"

"I'm beat," Axel declared as he stretched his arms over his head. "I vote we call it for the night."

Sora nodded again. "I'm with him. We can get some rest and start the day bright and early tomorrow. There's something called the Starlight Festival that I want to check out."

Axel quirked an eyebrow at him. "Really? You want to peruse some dorky street fair at a time like this? Dude, priorities."

"It's as good a place as any to look for the Keyhole. Besides-"

His words were interrupted as the music suddenly cut off with a loud screech tearing through the speakers. The sea of clubgoers were no longer dancing. Instead, they were rumbling with gasps and yelps as they stumbled about, seemingly making room for something in the middle of them all. The whole room was getting brighter by the second, and the source of it seemed to be whatever was at the heart of that crowd.

Elsa shifted about, trying to see past everyone. What was going on? Had one of the strobe lights fallen from the ceiling and crashed into the floor? Was that where all this light was coming from?

One voice suddenly could be heard shouting over all the rest. "Your… your hair… it freaking _glows_?!"

She was pretty sure she recognized it as Flynn's voice. She was also pretty sure she had misheard him. She must have, right?

The crowd finally parted enough for her to see what all the commotion was about. And she gaped.

Nope. She'd heard right.

Strewn about all over the dance floor were yards upon yards of what could only be silky smooth, golden hair. Hair that was currently glowing with the intensity of a thousand and one suns. It looped and swirled all over the ground and it was impossible to tell where the end of it was. But it all started from the scalp of one girl now standing all by herself, the clubbers around her giving her plenty of space as they gawked at her. The girl shuffled her feet nervously as she bit her thumbnail and glanced around.

"Well, well, I certainly have to hand it to Little Miss Lite-Brite here. That's a neat trick."

Elsa started at the sound of the new voice and her head whipped around to find a fourth person had seemingly materialized out of thin air to join Axel, Sora, and her at their small table. A very familiar, striking person with very familiar, striking blonde hair, a couple locks styled to look like antennae.

Larxene's twisted grin dissolved into a pout. "Oh, I'm sorry. Was this a private party?" Her face turned dark as she slammed an electrified fist against the table and snarled, "Don't you know that excluding others isn't _nice?_ "

* * *

_**AN:** Oh. Em. Eff. Gee... look who's back?! There hasn't been any action in a while, so figured it was high time to shake things up a bit... next chapter :3_

_Fun Fact, I did have a specific song in my head for when Axel and Elsa danced together. But I generally try to leave song titles out of my fics - my song tastes may just not be everyone else's song tastes, so I prefer if my readers just imagine some song they know and like. I'm curious if I left enough hints for anyone to guess what the actual song I had in mind was, but I suspect not, what lil description of it I left could probably describe a LOT of songs :P_

_Poor Flynn, I abuse him so xD He just makes it so fun! And hey, the trio SORT of met Punzie and Flynn... BUT DON'T WORRY THE REAL GET TOGETHER IS STILL COMING VERY SOON! As in like... NEXT CHAPTER! That's the good news..._

_The bad news? It's not written yet ;_; And like I keep saying, I'm such a turtle when it comes to writing, so it might be a while before you guys see it, especially since I'm juggling 2 other stories with this one. Sorry guys! But I promise the next update will come! ...sooner or later! But yes, sadly this is the last of my updates that will be on a weekly schedule._

_Special thanks and much love to everyone who has shown support for this quirky little story!   Thank you one and all for reading, hoped you liked it, please leave feedback and let me know what you think! Be back... not next week T_T BUT SOMEDAY SOON! Be sure to **bookmark**  so when I do next update, you won't miss it! Until then, hugs and kisses, much love and peace out!_


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